Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

This current AI boom all comes down to the cost of providing bathrooms for people. Or so it seems.

I think we are over thinking the idea of what we think about these chattering bots. Folks, the chatbot is just software running on a computer. Yes, some of that software makes me think I am talking to someone. I frequently hear people describing their interactions with Claude as “talking to Him” and “He gave me these ideas” and “He put this data into a table for me” and so on. What a great name for a piece of software: Claude. That is so much nicer than ChatGPT. Oops, is software nice?

Why does a company have software to “talk to me” instead of a person? The software runs 24 hours a day and doesn’t “get tired.” If the software has errors, it always has errors. It doesn’t have more errors after not taking a nap or not eating enough protein. And the software doesn’t need to take a break and go to the bathroom.

Ah, we’ve hit the bottom line: chattering bots don’t need bathrooms. Bathrooms are the most expensive room in any building. They have all that extra plumbing and hardware. Bathrooms need cleaning often and that costs money.

The AI boom? It is all due to the cost of the bathroom. Remove the need for the bathroom, and you really have something. Claude never goes to the bathroom. He has a job for life.