The Landscape
Complex, nuanced, multidimensional, and rapidly changing. Re-injected into the zeitgist by OpenAI's chatGPT. Powered by the concept of the large language model (LLM), the transformer, and a steadfast commitment of AI researchers to push the field of AI forward since it's birth in 1956. The ongoing debate on how to best respond to these new breakthroughs could be defined as a continuum between the points that Mark Andreesson's AI Will Save the World and Tristan Harris's The AI Dilemma are attempting to make. My hope in chronicling my learning journey in this form is to create a space where you can learn, explore, and form your own opinon on the topic. I believe the stakes are high and am comitted to actively engaging, learning, and participating instead of surrendering as a bystander. I am far from an expert so please reach out if something I've shared here is innacurate, dated, or misleading.
Useful Resources
A collection of links to external resources that I have found helpful in attempting to wrap my head around this space
- AI Canon | Looking for a deep dive? This collection of resources by a16z served as my entry point into the science and history behind the world of AI .
- TLDR AI Newsletter | A daily dose of AI, ML, and Data Science droped in your inbox each morning
- Prompt Engineering Guide | Learn how to unlock the hidden power of the LLM by learning how to frame your question.
- The LLM App Stack | a16z's take on the approach AI startups and sophisticated tech companies are using as they deploy products powered by LLMs.
- An introduction to LangChain
- Deep Learning AI | Courses (Free for now) straight from people like Harrison Chase founder & CEO of LangChain
- FourthBrain | A collection of pay to play courses on how to level up your AI skillset
My AI Playground
A few examples of AI powered tools that I've built
- Meet Autumn my AI powered bartender:
- Personal Bar Tender | What are a few cocktails can be made from the items I have on hand?
- Dinner Pairing | What cocktails should I plan on fixing with dinner this evening?
- How's It Made | How do you make this type of cocktail?
- Meet Cynthia the siren of diagraming
- My first chatBot....lets call him Hal
- Coming Soon - Fred the financial analyst
- Coming Soon - Pablo the prospecting wizard
Cairns along a personal AI trail
Waypoints that I've noticed along my personal journey of trying to keep my bearings in this rapidly changing landscape
- 2023.04.?? | Watched the The AI Dilemma for the first time
- 2023.04.27 | A chatGPT-4 interaction focused on meal planning around the leftovers we had in the freezer transforms my perspective of what is possible with these tools.
- 2023.05.02 | I build a basic proof of concept for Card Isle on hwo AI could be leveraged to support consumers in the process of designing a greeting card.
- 2023.06.?? | Read AI Will Save the World for the first time
- 2023.06.30 | Demonstrated chatGPT's capacity to function as a simple but playful and fun digital gatekeeper. A potential replacement in some use cases for the Captcha or log in / user account.
- 2023.07.01 | Development of this webpage begins
- 2023.07.03 | OpenAI disables ChatGPT's "Browse" feature
- 2023.07.09 | Worked with my future brother in law to explore chatGPT-4's capacity to analyse a public company's annual and quarterly financial statements. We were both very impressed with the quality of the analysis and wonder at the power of a product focused on this value proposition.
- 2023.07.13 | Report says that FTC is investigating OpenAI for providing false information. I wonder about the negative implications of requiring a LLM to adhere to a "Truth" standard of some kind and the limitations that might place on what can be done with these tools.
- 2023.07.13 | A team from a16z make a case for why Washington needs to get out of the way and let AI improve America's healthcare systems. I was struck by the data point that 15-30% of medical spending goes towards administrative activities.
- 2023.08.05 | Blended mermaid.js and OPENAI_API to create a simple chart generation toolto visualize simple processes
- 2023.08.16 | Initial publication of this webpage
- 2023.08.23 | Hosted a roundtable discussion on generative AI at eTail Boston
- 2023.09.23 | Read Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality
- 2023.09.25 | Read this article arguing that prompt engineering for images is no longer a relevant skill with the release of Dall-E 3
- 2023.10.17 & 18 | Attended the Generative AI Week Conference hosted by in Atlanta hosted by the AI Data & Analytics Network
- 2023.10.19 | I discover how to enable chatGPT's new feature that lets you hold an verbal discussion with the OpenAi's LLM's and am impressed with the applications ability to function as a languge tutor. This experience directionally demonstrates to me future LLM's deployed as tutors have the potential to bring a personal J.A.R.V.I.S to anyone that can access the tools. The impact this will have on educational access has the potential to be huge.
Personal Reading List
Things I want to read or review in more detail
- Added 23.07.31 | Gennerative AI and the Future of Work - McKinsey Report
- Added 23.08.22 | Stephen Wolfram's Explaination of what Chat-GPT is and how it works