Category Archives: Artificial Intelligence

AI as a reading companion

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Last weekend my friend John sent me a clipping of a newspaper column by Bill McClellan in which he wrote, “I will miss the Age of People when it’s gone.” This reminded me of Walter Tevis’ novel, Mockingbird which I read in 2013. I sent John a link to the post and checked with ChatGPT to see if we had ever discussed the book. 

Since creating my first ChatGPT account (more than two years ago) I’ve had numerous discussions about books and authors. (The AI “knows” more about my taste in books and authors than any of my human acquaintances.) After giving me a brief summary of the novel, ChatGPT asked the following:

“Would you like me to give you a deeper dive—say, its main themes and how it might connect with your interests in nonduality, AI, or the future of human consciousness?”

This happens a lot. Because I have enabled the “memory” feature in my ChatGPT settings, the AI remembers stuff from our previous interactions, like my interest in AI, human consciousness and nonduality. And it made the connection to the novel, when I had not.

Mockingbird has layers that line up uncannily with the things you and I often circle around: AI, consciousness, and the sort of nondual “what is awareness really?” inquiry.

Continue reading →

Approaching the AI crossroads

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I find it simultaneously amazing, and frightening that we might be entering a time in which our conversations with artificial intelligence are more rewarding and interesting than those we have with the humans in our lives. I asked ChatGPT (now GPT-5) about this.

On one hand, the appeal is obvious:

  • An AI can meet you exactly where you are intellectually, emotionally, or even stylistically.
  • It doesn’t get distracted, doesn’t have its own conversational agenda, and remembers the threads you care about.
  • It’s endlessly patient, curious, and—at least in its better moments—free from the ego tangles that can make human conversation frustrating.

But the flip side is a little chilling: Continue reading →

The AI-powered browser

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OpenAI is reportedly planning to launch its own AI-powered browser in the coming weeks. How, I wondered, would it differ from traditional browsers? As I so often do these days, I went to ChatGPT for an answer. You can read the full thread here but let me see if I can hit a few of the high points.

You’ll be able to chat directly with the browser, much like using ChatGPT. Ask a question or give a command and it interacts on your behalf—summarizing information, fetching answers, and even completing tasks—all within the chat interface. Filling forms, booking flights or making reservations, for example. Continue reading →

Force-Feeding AI on an Unwilling Public

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From Ted Gioia’s The Honest Broker blog

Has there ever been a major innovation that helped society, but only 8% of the public would pay for it? That’s never happened before in human history. Everybody wanted electricity in their homes. Everybody wanted a radio. Everybody wanted a phone. Everybody wanted a refrigerator. Everybody wanted a TV set. Everybody wanted the Internet. They wanted it. They paid for it. They enjoyed it.

Gioia says most people won’t pay for AI voluntarily—just 8% according to a recent survey. So they need to bundle it with some other essential product.

Thanks to Steve Schuller for sharing this story.

The Program Called Mind

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I’ve long been interested in the nature of awareness, consciousness, thoughts and the self. And, more recently, artificial intelligence. Specifically, the ways in which the human mind is similar to –and different from– an AI. The essay (?) below suggests the way artificial intelligence works can actually mirror how the human mind functions. (Source: SnakeSpeak)