All Essays
Every issue of Almost Intelligent, from newest to oldest.
AI: The Future is Very Good at Dishwashers
Dishwashers, robots, and rainbows in the age of AI.
The Future Isn't Yelling.
Matt Schumer’s AI essay Something Big Is Happening just crossed 66 million views. That’s not just engagement — that’s a cultural mood swing. Some people read it as a warning. Others as a prophecy. A few as a marketing document for the future.
AI <Human> Patience
Chatbots reward patience. A little goes further than a lot of personality. Anthropomorphizing does not.
AI: The Question of Learning
The smallest starting point unlocks the process of learning AI. And it's not a course.
AI and the Quantum Dance
To make sense of science, the dancer in me always imagines motion. Quantum physics, at its heart, is a dance of particles, constantly moving, adapting, and exchanging energy. It’s also how AI learns.
A Meaningful History
A recent article in The New Yorker profiles Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web. The article's subhead is "Now he wants to save it."
AI and Communications Skills
AI doesn't replace the need to communicate effectively. If anything, it not only taxes your baseline communications skills but taps into any innate managerial or didactic instincts.
AI Design: Mi casa
Undertaking a design challenge isn't something we do often. For homeowners, a "refresh" of your living space happens every 3-5 years.
AI: Beyond 20/20
From spotting irregularities in radiology scans to finding that photo from 2012, AI is changing how we see.
AI: Serve
In tennis, the serve sets the tone. In tech, apps and AI are constantly serving us -- sometimes aces, sometimes double faults.
A: Eye
Image recognition delivers encyclopedic knowledge. Editing changes the point of view. My advice: keep it simple.
AI is an Amalgamation
And that's a beautiful thing. Chatbots gather data from multiple sources in near real time, which translates to constant change and evolution.
AI: Some things worth trying
Are not for buying. With every revolution comes unregulated behavior. Buyer beware: Bots can go rogue. And they're darn good salespeople.
Voice: AI is Listening
Hearing a person's actual voice is a wonderful thing. But since leaving voicemail is so yesterday, many of us have taken to dictating text messages and other tasks.
Travel AI: Not Yet Ready for Departure
Specialized AI tools will make everyday tasks better, but most are not ready for real-world use.
AI: Fantasy vs. Reality
How do we know if an image, a video, an audio file is real? And when should we care?
AI: From Protest to Proposal
AI can help shape smarter arguments, whether for social media or a town hall hearing.
Almost Predictable.
Predictive AI is a type of AI, like Generative AI. It's a little more complicated, unless you are a "quant" geek. But really, it's just boring analytics.
Why? Gen AI Can Save You Time.
Gen who? AI what? Forget it. Just remember: my goal is to help make your daily life tasks a little easier and save you time for the bigger things in life.
AI is Artificial, not Almost.
AI does stand for Artificial Intelligence. What you need to know is that AI isn't a new technology. It's not technology in that it requires you to be a techie to know it or use it. But it exists because of technology. More on this later.