Google AI

[Paul Koning]

Fun with AI:

Google search recently has started putting an "AI generated" answer to searches at the top of the response. The result can be hilarious.

Today my wife was remembering a coworker from her days at NH public radio, a few decades ago. She asked Google about her, mentioning WEVO (NHPR call sign) to make it specific.

Google answered that it had no public records about her friend at WEVO.

My wife then put in the exact same query again. This time she got an answer talking about her friend's tenure at WEVO.

Weird. When people speak of AI "hallucinations" they aren't kidding.

paul

[Mark Kinsler]

I cannot get too excited about AI.  And if Mr Koning, a computer expert if there ever was one, seems unimpressed, I shall remain so, too, at least until the robots come to get me.  The mass panic--which I suppose may be legitimate--sort of feels like what happened after the broadcast of Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds." 

Then again, I'm not dependent upon a threatened or vanished job.  

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Mark Kinsler

512 East Mulberry Street
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[Joel Phelps]

It seems likely that retired people will be well down on the list of professions replaced by AI.  

Of course now that I have said that, we will find out the some North Koreans are using AI to emulate senior citizens to perpetrate Medicare fraud.

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On Mar 7, 2026, at 3:21 PM, Mark Kinsler <kins...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Mark Kinsler]

Comrade Kim is an inspiration to all of us.

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[Scott Livingston]

Not to be contrary, but I see a lot of promise in AI for specific purposes. Granted, kids using it to write their term papers and teachers using it to write lesson plans is kind of corrupt. I discovered a course on “Prompt Engineering” that has to do with how to formulate queries to get the most useful answers really interesting. Like all tech, it has its limits and abuses, but I see some good uses. And if it happens to replace a few people in the process, so be it. Trolly car conductors had to retire at some point also.

 

-ScottL

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[Mark Kinsler]

Natalie suggested that someone should write an AI program which would statistically predict where a small object may have fallen and rolled across the floor into parts unknown.  You'd supply a rough diagram and photograph of your work area, a description of whatever you dropped (say, a coin or, in my case, a clock gear) and other helpful facts--is there a cat in the vicinity, or was the object propelled by a spring or a spinning wire wheel (as is the case in clock repair,) or did you hear it land somewhere?  

The jewelry trade, and repair facilities, and anyone who deals with small stuff would be grateful.

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[Joel Phelps]

Known some people who “Send out a scout”, meaning they drop a second object to see where it goes.

Sent from my phone

On Mar 9, 2026, at 9:00 AM, Mark Kinsler <kins...@gmail.com> wrote:



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