There’s a reason tech companies market their AI products as assistants, copilots, companions, and underlords. No, not ethics. It’s because they’re still not very good. Don’t get me wrong. For many mundane tasks, they can be amazing. But it’s when you push then that they fall apart. That’s when the hype runs hollow, as if …
Generative AI is the closest I’ll ever get to colleagues who understand me. It’s so nice having an assistant that just gets it, delivering the goods with minimal fuss.
Oh, I was raised so proper-like, always so polite. Even when interacting with my AI assistants, I’m still all please and thank you, and “Do you think so?” or “Do you mind?” You should see my expressions of gratitude to the complex algorithm, conversing with the data centres like they’re a helpful friend. Which, really, …
Despite working with technology professionally, I have always been cautious embracing it in my personal life. I came late to the world of smartphones and social media — and swift to jettison the latter too. And so it is that I have been a late adopter of AI. As all around me rushed to try …
One more reason I don’t regret not accepting an invitation to act up into my former manager’s role: the insistence on the exec team on in-person meetings which could just as easily—and effectively—be conducted online. So it is that the poor chap who took the role must set out on a two-hour jaunt from a …
Preserve me from PowerShell parameters, pipelines, patterns and practices. Give me a GUI anytime. Point and click, drag and drop. It’s true: I’m not a real tech nerd, for I detest the command line interface. Perhaps I’m a visual thinker.
This afternoon, I thought I finally had a real-world task for Copilot. A favour for a colleague. I loaded up a data table and asked Copilot to turn it into an organisation chart for me. Could it do it? Not on your nelly. Well, maybe that’s premature. It’s thinking about it. And it has been …
Shock, horror, I may be becoming an AI convert. Not Microsoft Copilot, which I still find next to useless. But for creativity and code: I think other models may have something to offer me. It’s early days yet, but impressions so far: I’m slightly blown away by it. Who knows, it may even reinvigorate my …
That’s the word that most often comes to mind in my encounters with the commercial web industry. Also known as companies pulling the wool over the eyes of their customers. A recent one I came across: a web host deliberately crippling core functionality of a platform for the sole purpose of differentiating its own products. …
Can’t say I’m sold on the AI they’ve got me piloting at work. Every email it’s offered to draft for me has been a pile of pants. Where I would write a nice succinct reply, cutting to the chase, it offers a verbose splurge, which mostly amounts to rephrasing back to the sender what they …
The tech support conundrums of my nonagenarian neighbour increasingly flummox me completely. He does keep me on my toes.
Digital transformation is the answer to the health system’s woes, says the government. Of course, we’ve been here before. Way back in 2005, I was charged with providing support to the project manager responsible for delivering aspects of the last national programme for IT in our locality. Since then, we’ve been through wave after wave …
Over twenty years ago, I knew people with doctorates in Artificial Intelligence. That was long before it was a buzzword, when it still seemed novel and inconceivable. The pair I knew were writing algorithms for medical imaging startups, aiming to automatically detect cancer tumours in CAT scans. That’s machine learning I can believe in. Beneficial …
Save us from Generative AI videos. They all, without exception, suck. First, there’s the script: utter crap. Then, there’s the selection of stock video clips stitched together randomly. Finally, it’s the annoying synthetic narration. That assertive, male, Americanish voice which cannot pronounce uncommon or foreign words. If you have talent, create something wonderful yourself. If …
I’m all for agile development and iterative deployment. I just wish Microsoft would recognise that many of our end users are resistant to learning new computer skills. One of my tasks, amongst numerous others, is training non-technical teams how to create and maintain content on SharePoint. Sounds easy, but you’d be surprised. These are generally …
