I don't think that we have anything to worry about from the much-hyped
"ChatGPT" and the other "large language model" AIs.

 

Will AI ever "know about bees"?  Yes, but by definition it will be less
useful than any beekeeper with a few years of experience.

 

The reason is simple - such Ais are "trained" using a massive amount of
existing writing, which seems great - feed the bot nothing but textbooks,
and get the ultimate college lectures.  Feed it religious and philosophical
works, and out pop far better sermons, on appropriate topics, and on demand.

 

But beekeeping?  Where's the fact checkers?  Even if we limit ourselves to
peer-reviewed papers and published books, and eschew both the online forums
and the beekeeper magazines, we don't end up with a narrowing consensus.
So, the biology, perhaps.  Behavior, maybe.  But practical beekeeping?
Forget it.  

 

It is far easier and cheaper to feed these bots massive amounts of text from
*the internet*, which lacks the proofread fact-checked quality of textbooks
and other "published" works.

So, while the ChatGPT bot may be glib, it will often be factually incorrect
on key points.  Any of Google Assistant, Siri, or Alexa will be more useful
on "stuff I need to know", as any one of them will do an adequate job of
reminding me that the Jets game is a 1pm Sunday, and that we had better
leave by 11:15 to avoid the worst of the traffic, and that after the game,
we should stop at the REI co-op so my wife can pick up glove liners to
replace her misplaced ones.  This works, as the "to do list" and "reminders"
are powerful ways to free oneself of a mountain of trivia, yet still seem to
be on top of every situation, no matter how many balls one is juggling.

 

If anyone wants a taste of the actual state of the art in AI, go to a chain
grocery on your next market day, and try ringing it all up yourself at the
so-called "self-checkout".   Suddenly, that home delivery fee looks cheap,
doesn't it?

 

On the other hand, use the GPS navigation system in your phone - it is so
perfect, even minor inaccuracies are cause for comment and a "feedback"
report.  This is because the mission is very narrow, the dataset is scrubbed
against multiple sources to make the best map, and the millions of users
reveal the exact speed of the flow of traffic ahead in real time.


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