Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Instead of wiggling around so we can call our efforts “AI,” let’s focus on useful and helpful software.

Over a decade ago (yes, that long), I was working with a graduate student on their writing. They had difficulty describing their research to others. Their work was wonderful.

They had developed a concept and software to demonstrate the concept of how to aid people find safety in a building that was on fire or had other disasters looming. The software was going to save lives using a combination of building plans and the appointment calendars and contact information of people.

Today, we would call this “agentic AI” or some other made-up term that would sell in our AI-infatuated world. Gosh. How about calling it useful and helpful software? How about just calling it something that is useful and helpful and drop all technology terms?

Let’s build things that help persons, whose bodies have failed them but their minds still function to use machines and, interact with the rest of us. Let’s help persons survive disasters. Let’s help persons do many other useful things so that the true character and value of those persons shines through to the rest of us.

Pollyanna? Perhaps, but let’s do better.