There is much talk of AI among the common public. On one hand the common man hardly uses any AI enabled app or features and on the other hand there seem to be a strong conviction that AI will do everything for him.
I am presently developing and maintaining a couple of web applications for database operations.
I hear , “why do yo need to make an application ? AI will do it for you.” Mostly such questions come from folks who don’t even use emails.
Does it mean I just put in a request to ChatGPT , “please make an application for me”
Yes it is possible , but it would just be the first question of a long series of a dialogue.
Then , what’s the cost for use of AI ? What will the developer charge you for getting your app done through AI ? Is he going to charge you less because he is using AI or is he going to add the cost of AI to your bill ?
Just as a computer does not work on its own, AI too does not read your mind and fulfil your desires.
It is powerful, it is versatile, it is very helpful for drawing pictures, drafting, coding, collecting and collating information , decision making and just about any of your day to day activities on a computer or a smart phone.
But you have to be doing something with your natural intelligence to begin with.
For someone to appreciate the power of AI , one should have to be used to googling. There was a time when there was a plethora of search engines . The novelty of the net was there, but even then it was getting frustrating to get any useful actionable information through these search engines. For eg if you wanted to know about motherboard , you were given all kinds of pages on mothers and boards, but nothing about a mother board as known in the computer world
Google changed all that and became the benchmark for search engines.
Yet , not all top results were relevant to your needs. One ended up browsing through a whole gamut of news, pictures and videos and clicking half a dozen links for commercials in the process.
It’s in the light of our experience with search engines, one needs to look at an AI app like ChatGpt or Deepseek. The AI app too depends on its database for the output just as the search engines.
How can AI help you and me in our day to day work. The answer would depend on what you are doing today without the help of AI, using only your natural intelligence.
Obviously the job of brushing your teeth can’t be delegated to ChatGPT. Are you drafting letters? Do you work with graphics or drawings? Do you collect and collate information on a regular basis ? AI can help you in all these areas .
How is it different from googling ?
A search typically throws up about 20 million results in 20 seconds. Then you are left to browse laboriously through tonnes of relevant and not so relevant material to find what you want.
A question to an AI app gives you a concise summary of a typical Google search.
If a search engine were like a librarian who points at the relevant subject rack or shelf, and AI app is like a research assistant who studies the material and gives you a gist.
What fascinates me is that AI actually fills in the gaps of my own inadequacy in many areas.
My language is too academic or terse. I give my writing to ‘perplexity‘ and say ‘hi make it more casual’ ….and it does ! You will no more recognise your own style in the text.
I write bad code. I can just copy paste it on to grok site and ask ” would you please fix the errors and give me good code? “
I am no artist. I tell the app , ” please draw a cartoon for my blog”. The pictures displayed in this blog are all AI generated.
So, you can compose music like AR Rahman with a tone deaf ear ; write like Shakespeare after failing in high school English and draw like Michelangelo, with no taste for colors or proportions.
Fun isn’t it ?
Then why do you need AR Rahmans at all ? Let’s ask AI.
That’s the bottom line from Gemini
Final Thought: AI isn’t going to kill artist careers. But artists who refuse to evolve at all might find themselves frustrated by the shifting landscape. The key is using technology on your own terms—in a way that supports your creativity rather than replacing it. So no, AI won’t write a song like you can.
Very aptly put; leverage technology in your own terms to evolve; whatever your doing with your natural talent, you can do better with AI. In areas where you lack talent, you can lean on AI for help.
But then, as we see around us, without application of their natural intelligence Artificial Intelligence is of no use and most people don’t go beyond WhatsApp forwards.
Well if you are happy doing what you do without the help of AI, just carry on that way.
Recently I saw some senior citizens who went into panic mode (thanks to the ubiquitous Whatsapp forwards) that their data would be stolen by AI if they don’t take such and such actions !
As common folks, let’s not worry about the global economy or the threat to employment prospects or not even data theft for we can’t do much about it. Just have fun with AI. Don’t take it seriously; just have fun.
“Ask meta to draw a cow sitting on your drawing room sofa; ask ChatGPT for a joke on senior citizens; ask any wild questions and let go your imagination and have fun”
