I have begun relying on AI and I don’t know how I feel about it.

[Tusktusk]

So far this month I have used AI to:

Analyse my colours (thanks MN) and suggest outfits

Create a menu of packed lunches around my dietary requirements and preferences, complete with a shopping list

Plan a holiday itinerary

Save me hours and hours of work and stress by suggesting really useful ways to overcome very particular work difficulties, having been thrown into an out of my comfort zone situation. I have used AI for this on a daily basis this week

Tonight, instead of posting my current family dilemma on mumsnet I chatted about it with Claude. The responses were really good. Wise, thoughtful, non judgemental, practical, understanding… like the best mumsnetters.

Am I starting to rely on it too much?

What have you been using it for?

I've started doing the same and think it's great.

You will be very rapidly left behind. If you don’t get on this wagon you’ll be surplus’s to requirements.

Did you mean to sound a bit like a.fascist there?

Google Search: Uses 0.0003 kWh per query, emitting 0.2g CO2.
ChatGPT: Uses 0.0029 kWh per query (10x more energy), emitting 68g CO2.

I’m currently using it to meal plan to my specific preferences. It’s brilliant

Clearing out MIL's house, there are a few very old pieces of furniture and some very old ornaments. OH was going to send the ornaments to the charity shop and get the council to come to take the furniture to the tip (they charge for that!).

After seeing someone mention using AI for pictures, I took some photos and have uploaded to ChatGPT to ask it what they are, and what they're worth. Wow! Glad I did. I know you can't be 100% certain, but it's given really accurate descriptions/dates of many of the items with pretty impressive values. I've checked a few things out myself just to check and it seems to be spot on. Realistically, could be looking a several hundred pounds worth (at lowest valuation prices) and maybe into a couple of thousand if they go well at auction!

Some of them were inherited by MIL from her parents/grandparents, so when ChatGPT dates them to Victorian era, it could well be right!

sounds like people are going to be surplus soon

Well let’s face it quite a lot already are. We will have to decide how we deal with that increase on %

I doubt whether knowing how to prompt AI or not is going to be the deciding factor as to whether someone is ‘surplus to requirements’. If it’s going to steamroller whole industries, then the ability to get ChatGPT to create a PowerPoint presentation or devise a holiday itinerary is not going to save anyone.

I completely agree, btw, with the pp who pointed out the glee some seem to have about the comeuppance we AI cynics are going to get.

Fucking hell 😂

Ten times funnier if you read this in a sinister robot voice

True though. The march of technology will wait for no one. Embrace it or get left behind. Best to go with the flow rather than trying to hold back the tide.

We’ll all get left behind whether you kiss AI arse or not.

I'm beginning to think that episode of Black Mirror where the plebs have to generate electricity by riding static bikes and "win" freedom would appeal to so many posters here.

It has no personal biases and can process huge amounts of data quickly.

I think it's the future of a lot of healthcare among other things.

But Google just lists websites for me. That I must then visit. Maybe two or three, to get a useful answer. And those websites use server power. And so do my visits.

It's about time people stopped parroting "OMG AI uses soooo much power!" and started using critical thinking.

Please can you tell me the name of this app? Ty

Fuck that shit. Who wants to live in a world where people outsource basic thought functions to a fucking plagiarism machine?

It has no personal biases

It displays consistent racist and sexist bias

Alright Claude, don't worry it seems you and Hal have more fawning friends than opposers.

Ha ha. Is that your best comeback? Because you haven't actually thought about the power that is involved in looking at various websites for some useful input?

I'm actually the very definition of a Luddite and if I had any choice wouldn't be using modern technology at all frankly. And Luddites weren't just regressive thickos. They gave a shit about the people industrialisation displaced. As do I. If you really think the positives of AI etc outweigh the negatives, that's fine. I happen to disagree. It's called a debate.

And yet here you are on Mumsnet. The same Mumsnet that has licensed OpenAI in order to trawl their own archive and train an LLM on it. In order to serve up summaries of threads, or sell their archive.

So call me a hypocrite.

Am I supposed to get with the programme or not?

Do you not see the problem here?

I'm not callling you anything. Just giving you some information.

I have information thanks. All at my fingertips. Isn't it ironic?