WORKSLOP
Have you heard this term yet? It is simply that AI doesn’t “work” very well. Since it “hallucinates” data so often it creates charts, graphs and other business data which are filled with “gobbledygook.” Then, knowledgeable humans have to “correct” the program’s data and re-publish charts and graphs with correct information. 95% of businesses which went “whole hog” on AI got what they paid for, “Pig offal.”
Here’s where AI has proved itself useful in business … editing. It can correct grammar and syntax. That’s an expensive editing program, eh? It does a fair job at polishing a report, but not very good at writing one with correct documented information.
That’s why I refuse to use the “AI assistant” to do internet searches for me. I have found it doesn’t do a very good job at finding what I am looking for, but it sure can find sites with plenty of AI generated data (a.k.a. “untrustworthy”). I don’t want to clutter my brain with fake information which I will later have to edit and replace. Easy to do with a computer, not so easy with real brains. We have enough fake data without AI. (“Let them eat cake” didn’t originate with Marie Antonette as she was 3 at the time it was first recorded).
CNBC has this headline: “AI-generated ‘workslop’ is here. It’s killing teamwork and causing a multimillion dollar productivity problem, researchers say” A quote: “[experts] … now have a name for this phenomenon, the feeling you get when you’re reading a message or document that’s so convoluted or incomplete in thought that you start to wonder, ‘Wait, did a human even write this, or is this AI?’”
I’ve read human written term papers which were that way BEFORE AI (I may have even written a couple wordy, useless ones myself) but they were extremely rare. Now it is so common that we just accept it and go on as though there’s no crime to behold. We are seeing it daily in news, in documents, charts, and graphs that don’t quite tell us anything. Oh, and you’re getting emails, junk mail, phone calls and texts which also are generated by some computer program. Input a few pieces of data and out comes an advertisement for a new type of cake, candy, recipe, or business opportunity.
Newer or faster does not mean better. Sadly, it will improve to the place where almost nothing will be trustworthy. I’m getting out now! I am ending music and membership contracts and signing up for NOTHING new. I’m restricting online purchases (can you trust them? … people are finding out that is is becoming more “iffy.”)
Then there was the recent article by Wikipedia on how to spot AI text … written by AI, because “why not!” I don’t trust Wikipedia to get things right anyway. It has displayed strong biases in the past. Now it is doing it again. Spotting AI is not a formula, it is awareness. It is a nagging doubt of any document, research, or opinion about anything. It is exactly like my reticence to open an email from an unknown source. I DON’T TRUST.
I don’t trust salesmen already. I’ve caught them in lies so many times I lost count years ago. Now imagine an AI with no conscience to begin with. Will it have any trouble lying to you? My real question is, “Will it have any motivation to tell the truth?” Clearly, no! And IF it were a robot it would have no qualms about murdering you for the gold in your teeth.
Technology itself does not scare me, but AI has no “internal limits.” Give it a job and it will do that job no matter what gets in its way. I do not overstate the problem, it will lie, cheat, and manipulate to achieve what it sees as its ultimate “good.” God help us!
We used to think that nuclear war would kill everyone. That was 60 years ago. Humankind was smarter than that, but we aren’t smart enough to fear something worse…AI programs which will use nuclear weapons with no regret. We ARE putting it in charge of military weaponry, by the way. It would be one thing if we only used AI on Mars, but where do WE go if AI gets out of hand on earth?
Don’t allow AI to be your doctor: Daily Dot has this headline, “A woman was told she had a heart attack. A cardiologist later informed her that an EKG reading done with AI was wrong.”
Don’t allow AI to drive your car. They still haven’t worked out the bugs in GPS. It will take you across a bridge which never was there. Has it taken you to a vacant field yet? AI doesn’t know there is such a thing as a vacant field.
On the other hand, if I were a betting man, I would wager that businesses and government WILL forge ahead with AI anyway. They don’t have a choice. They know a competitor WILL choose AI. If it works for your competitor and you didn’t use it, then they win and you lose. Business and government have no choice.
However, I DO have a choice. I don’t have to be an early adopter. As an individual it is in my best interest to wait. I’m NOT competing with anyone but myself. If my neighbor wins with AI it neither helps nor hurts me. And if he loses, same. Therefore, I can afford to wait and see. Meanwhile I’m preparing.
You may be imagining that our government would not allow anything unsafe. They “watch out for us.” Really? They didn’t in 1900 when you could buy opium as a pain reliever at the drugstore with no prescription. They didn’t in 1920 when you could buy radioactive water and drink it. They didn’t in 1942 when people were allowed to watch nuclear tests without protection or even sunglasses. They didn’t in 1964 when you could still buy a car without seat belts or safety glass. Looking back you can find multiple instances where our government did NOT “watch out.” Most recently, with COVID. They do not have YOUR interests at heart.
Finally, for all the claims that we must “save the planet” AI isn’t helping. The Smithsonian has this headline: “A.I. Is on the Rise, and So Is the Environmental Impact of the Data Centers That Drive It” Reality bites! Apparently we are not all that interested in saving the world. I’ve been saying this for decades. There is always an excuse for scientists to ignore the science. First they claim the planet will die if we don’t stop CO2 production, then they claim that we need a technology that will dramatically increase the amount of CO2 produced. WHICH? But YOU have to do without A/C because YOU are killing the earth???
Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley
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