by Dwayne Phillips We want AI systems to act like us. Or do we? Perhaps we want AI systems to act like some of us. But who is “us” and who is “not us?” Testing shows that the latest and greatest large language models will generate bad information about political campaigns. That is wrong; those […]
Like Us or Like Some of Us
March 11th, 2024 · No Comments
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Censorship · Computing · Concepts · General Systems Thinking · Systems
Large Language Models and Adults
February 1st, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Large Language Models appear to have all sorts of problems. I wonder why companies that build such don’t hire adults to help build them. I recently learned that large language models (LLMs) have “sleeper agents” in them. Given some inputs, the LLM starts doing crazy things that it shouldn’t do. Gosh. LLMs […]
Tags: Adults · Artificial Intelligence · Computing · Concepts · Engineering · General Systems Thinking · Testing
BYOD
August 24th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips BYOD or Bring Your Own Data is a big deal. It has been in computing since the start of computing. Nothing new here folks, but it is still important. Everyone is a data scientist (sort of). Everyone works for a data-centric organization (sort of). Data is the new oil (sort of). Data […]
Tags: Communication · Computing · Data Science · Information · Language · Software · Technology · Word
You Would Think by Now…
June 29th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips You would think by now that we would have straightened out all this mess with computers not quite working right. Sigh. Maybe one day. Over 30 years ago, (yes, I am that old) I was loading software onto a computer via 5 1/4″ floppy disks (yes, I am that old) and… kaput. […]
Tags: Change · Chaos · Computing · Technical Debt · Technology
Hobby Programming and AI (low-code/no-code)
May 22nd, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Recent advances in chatting or Q&A software has provided the ability to write simple computer programs. Hooray! There is a trend in the workplace called “low-code/no-code.” A person at work writes a ten-line computer program that is helpful in that it will do something in a minute that would take the person […]
Tags: Adapting · Artificial Intelligence · Change · Computing · Programming · Systems
Want AI to Succeed?
April 20th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I think OpenAI did this before I get around to writing this blog post, but if you want AI to succeed, stop calling it AI. There is a large part of society that doesn’t like “AI.” First, how do you pronounce “AI?” Is it “A” then “I” or it some word that […]
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Computing · Culture · Data Science · Vocabulary
The Computer is Down
March 2nd, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We seem to be far more tolerant of technical failures. When I was a kid (we played baseball in the streets and things like that), I often heard the excuse, “The computer is down.” That excuse brought all sorts of grievous vexation that excuses usually bring. It was recognized as an excuse […]
Tags: Accountability · Artificial Intelligence · Competence · Computing · Excuses · Technology
What About the Teachers?
February 9th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips In the past month or two, many have bemoaned the appearance of software that can write essays for students. I have yet to read concerns about software that teachers can use to write essay assignments. ChatGPT is ruining the world. Well, at least some folks think it is ruining their world. The […]
Tags: Computing · Ethics · Machine Learning · Teaching · Technology · Writing
Spilled Coffee
October 31st, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I finally did it—I spilled a cup of coffee on my computer (first time ever over 40 years). A few lessons learned. After 40+ years of using my own personal computer, I spilled a cup of coffee on my current Apple MacBook Air. After a couple of hours, the coffee saturated the […]
Tags: Accountability · Chaos · Cloud Computing · Computing · Failure · Humility · Learning · Mistakes
DevSecOps: It’s Just What Computer Programmers Do
October 24th, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Considering DevSecOps—nothing to see here folks. It is just what computer programmers do. Everybody in the software-creating world is doing DevSecOps (development, security, operations). Well, if you are anybody in the everybody, you are doing DevSecOps. If you aren’t doing it, you are a nobody in the everybody. What is DevSecOps? It’s […]
Tags: Computing · DevOps · General Systems Thinking · Improvement · Programming