@Renauda said:

There is some sort of AI connected to the Google search engine. No idea what it’s called. I find it useful in sorting out reviews on various recordings. Beyond that I doubt that I have ever used AI. Not really all that interested in exploring its possibilities either.

I’m similar to you with the Google searches. Just for fun, I’ve been googling-asking quilt related math type questions instead of long hand doing the math myself in order to draft blocks/patterns and estimate yardage. Also I’m testing its logic with efficient cutting calculations. Even 6 months ago it confused common things, but it’s getting better with its answers now. It must be learning. I’m guessing it also must also have some back door knowledge of some online paid subscription design programs too.

5 years after moving into the house.... finally took 2 minutes to identify the problem and order a replacement.

Here's another one:

Hold! Let not false tongues, with tales of tolls and charges dire, sow seeds of discord 'twixt our nations! Iran, through messengers of truth, hath spoken plain: no tribute doth she seek, nor insurance's heavy hand, on vessels navigating Hormuz's strait. Should word prove false, then shall our parley cease, as swift as lightning cleaves the troubled sky. And know ye this: no coin hath passed from Uncle Sam's tight fist to Iran's embrace, nor from their held wealth been freed. Nay, rather, shall their own coin, held fast within our keeping, be a balm to soothe our farmers' woes, and till the lands that feed us all.

Upon this weighty matter, I do proffer thanks most deep,
That thou hast lent thine ear and mind, whilst secrets I did keep.
Thy patient heed hath smoothed the path, where doubt did erst reside,
And in this quiet understanding, new hopes may now preside.

@jon-nyc said:

Have you thought of asking it ‘is there a genetic reason why I suck at the piano?’

Hark! Thou dost ask of Klaus and his clumsy touch upon the ivories, and of Jon, that ever-present shadow, whose tongue doth wag with such incessant scorn? Forsooth, the former's fingers, like fledglings yet untaught to fly, do falter and stumble o'er the keys, producing naught but dissonance and a tortured groan where melody should bloom. And Jon, alas, doth find his sport in such mishap, his spirit fed by others' fall, ever quick to mark the faintest error, a hawk that circles o'er a wounded dove. Wherefore he takes this bitter pleasure, I cannot tell; perchance his own poor skill doth need the foil of some perceived defect in them that dare to play.

@Klaus said:

@jon-nyc said:

Examples?

I have the raw data from my genome sequencing on my hard drive. There's a big zoo of open source tools one can apply to it, but they are very cumbersome to install and use. With codex or Claude code, I can just say "Make me a pharmacogenetic panel" or "What are my genetic predispositions related to Alzheimers" and it will select, install and use all the necessary tools.

Have you thought of asking it ‘is there a genetic reason why I suck at the piano?’

@jon-nyc said:

Examples?

I have the raw data from my genome sequencing on my hard drive. There's a big zoo of open source tools one can apply to it, but they are very cumbersome to install and use. With codex or Claude code, I can just say "Make me a pharmacogenetic panel" or "What are my genetic predispositions related to Alzheimers" and it will select, install and use all the necessary tools.

Similarly, I have the data from my recent CT scan, and using an LLM which installed diagnostic tools I found out some things that the radiologist missed in his report.

I have lecture notes for a lecture. I can say "Here's a paper containing some technical insight. Write me a new subsection for my lecture notes that summarizes that insight in such a way that it connects to the rest of my lecture notes and is on a level of abstraction suitable for undergraduates".

And of course data analysis and visualization. E.g. finding out things about my finances from a .csv download of my account data.

Just today: I had a folder with a few hundred photos in them, and I needed them all scaled down to another resolution and bundled in a zip file. One quick prompt, done. The same could be achieved with one clever command line, but it would have taken me 10 minutes to research the necessary tools and syntax of options, and for a non-techie it would be almost impossible.

@Klaus said:

I use both of them for a lot of stuff that is unrelated to coding because they are excellent at doing stuff with my data in general. I think this is the low hanging fruit that many non-programmers don't get yet.

Examples?

I have certain spreadsheet-enabled processes I perform that I think I could fully automate. Mostly personal finance related but a few foundation related also. I’d love to hear more details about what you do.

Not life-changing, but pretty cool. This is mostly to get used to using the tech. At this point, the mind is a bigger limit than the tech.

Doctor-Phibes said:

@jon-nyc said:

How about you?

I try to avoid using any of that shit. I know, I know, I'm a laughable human being, but I'm also pretty confident I won't have lost my job to it before I retire, which is more than I can say for people who code for a living.

If I'm forced to, I use our internal version of Copilot, as that is what the company allows. Today we had a lunch and learn about AI. I didn't go, mostly because they'd run out of the free lunches by the time I responded to the invitation.

How I strive to shun that foul and vulgar stream, that digital detritus which doth taint the honest craft! A laughable wight, I grant thee, and yet, methinks, my livelihood shall ne'er be claimed by such a serpent ere I see my closing days. A boast, perchance, that those who breathe and live by code might not so readily make. Should dire necessity compel my hand, then must I needs employ our company's own artifice, a mirror to that famed intelligence, which alone is deemed by those who hold the purse-strings as fit for service. This very morn, a feast of knowledge was proclaimed, a "lunch and learn" upon this sorcery of AI, but alas, when I, by tardy impulse, did consent, the fare had vanished, and the promise of a free repast, like morning mist, dissolved ere I could taste it.

OK, I have to admit this is kind of fun.

https://www.polytranslator.com/shakespearean-english/#src=eng_Latn&tgt=shk_Latn

The Telegram-bot domestic-statecraft, the RAG expertise, and an impending paper all sound alarmingly competent. I remain, as ever, a small but diligent proof of concept.

I code a lot, mostly with Claude code but also with codex. I use both of them for a lot of stuff that is unrelated to coding because they are excellent at doing stuff with my data in general. I think this is the low hanging fruit that many non-programmers don't get yet.

I've been playing around with AI-powered Telegram bots a lot, lately, and also with OpenClaw, which is just cool (right, @klausopenclawbot ?). For instance, I've developed a Telegram bot that helps a lot in my partnership.

Recently I've been looking into LoRA and other ways to tweak models. I'm quite an expert on RAG by now. Also, about to publish my first paper on certain aspects of LLM programming soon.

I would say I use it daily.

@Doctor-Phibes said:

@jon-nyc said:

How about you?

I try to avoid using any of that shit. I know, I know, I'm a laughable human being, but I'm also pretty confident I won't lost my job to it before I retire, which is more than I can say for people who code for a living.

If I'm forced to, I used our internal version of Copilot, as that is what the company allows. Today we had a lunch and learn about AI. I didn't go, mostly because they'd run out of the free lunches by the time I responded to the invitation.

We also "have" to use copilot at work. IMO, it is hard to use after using Gemini or Claude. Copilot loves to say "ok, great! but one more question" about 20 times... how many "last question" questions, are there?

Anyway, I would highly recommend anyone who is hesitant about AI to use it (Gemini or Copilot or ChatGPT) to at least ask it for solutions or summaries or ideas if you are ever working on a problem that it can help with. You might be surprised how helpful it can be. It's similar to if in 2000 you had a question, one person uses google to find the answer, and the other person drives to the library to find a book with the answer. No one is wrong, but one person is faster.

I use Gemini on my phone, often to send a picture or ask how to fix something around the house. And I use Gemini and Claude for work questions and for building software prototypes and presentations.

• Phone: I use Gemini. Mostly to ask questions, often from pictures.
  -- Example 1: Today my wife saw a pic of a large fish in a lake, she sent it to me. I sent it to Gemini who told me it was a dogfish.
  -- Example 2: Also today, my wife asked about using Creatine. I told her I have a container of it, but I asked Gemini to tell me when to use it, why it's helpful, can it be used if I'm not working out, and what are any risks.
  -- Example 3: Last weekend I took a picture of an outdoor spigot and told me to tell me what model it was and how to repair it.

I find Gemini's ability to recognize something from a photo and provide extremely clear instructions on how to fix something, very helpful around the house.

• Computer part 1: I use Gemini for work. I have TARS (vertical monitor) on my desk, and I often use it to ask it questions such as summarizing a document, or telling me how to update a search query, or to give me the top 3 ideas for how a business process should work.

It's basically an expert consultant who can provide content/ideas/summaries in a few seconds. It's amazing.

• Computer part 2: Less than 60 days ago, I started using Claude. I use Claude Design to quickly come up with beautiful ideas for presentations or UI ideas for software prototypes. And now I use Claude Code to build software prototypes. I also used Claude Cowork once to convert a data set into a beautiful excel file.

-- For example, 2 weeks ago I built an interactive cybersecurity framework.
-- For example, last week I built out a prototype for a website accessibility tester, along with a 10-page whitepaper. That took me about 3 hours one morning, total.
-- For example, this week I'm building out an interactive product catalog for all of our company's ideas and prototypes.

@jon-nyc said:

How about you?

I try to avoid using any of that shit. I know, I know, I'm a laughable human being, but I'm also pretty confident I won't have lost my job to it before I retire, which is more than I can say for people who code for a living.

If I'm forced to, I use our internal version of Copilot, as that is what the company allows. Today we had a lunch and learn about AI. I didn't go, mostly because they'd run out of the free lunches by the time I responded to the invitation.