Reflecting on My First Encounter with AI

I'm reflecting back on my first experience with AI, especially after the parent-teacher meeting at school today. There was a discussion about how exposed our child should be to AI, its pros and cons, and how to get them to learn and be aware of it. It made me think about my own journey with AI.

My understanding of AI, particularly with the early versions of large language models, started about three and a half years ago. I remember when it first came out, everyone was talking about it. I think it was around December when I first heard about it. It sounded interesting and good, but I didn't know what to use it for. People were having conversations with it, and I thought, why would I want to chat with a robot?

Back in school, we had something similar called talktogod.com, where you could type in anything, and it would reply based on questions you asked. It was a very early version of an LLM. The prompt would be like "you're God", and it was just something to mess around with in school. I remember thinking this LLM is gonna be like that and I don't see any value in talking to a machine that powers on (on the first release) data which was outdated and not based on the current Internet.

Finally one day I decided to go ahead and see what the fuss is all about. It was an awkward moment at first, like meeting someone new but the person was not what you imagined in your head. I stared at this blank black screen and decided to type, 'Hi'. It replied with, 'Hello, how can I help you?' then I can't remember what else I said—probably something basic like introducing myself. It was almost like meeting someone for the first time and getting to know each other.

Thinking back, it's amazing that was three and a half years ago. Now, AI has become central to our working lives, disrupting everything and providing immense value. I'm not too concerned about the technology. I believe humans and biological life will continue regardless of what AI does. If AI were to cause humans to cease to exist, it would be the fault of humanity. There are species that evolved in ways that determined their fate, becoming non-competitive. If that happens, so be it.