Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Can’t use one of those AI tools in your workplace. Solve that problem.

Some wise person once said something about a hammer and a nail. It goes something like, “if the only tool you have is a hammer, the world looks like a nail.” This has something to do with another wise-person saying about, “There is no free lunch.”

Enough old, wise sayings. I face problems. I have resources. The resources are limited. What do I do?

Some of these current AI tools are useful. If the problem has to do with text, which many of my current problems do, these tools are quite useful. I have this AI tool and that AI tool. I work in this setting and that setting. Sometimes I am in a setting where my problem would be easy to solve if I had a tool that I don’t have. Rats.

Go back to the other setting, ask the AI tool how to solve the problem in the first setting with the tools available there.

For example, I have a problem in a setting, a tightly controlled office, that is solvable by writing a Java program. All I have, however, is Power Shell. How do I solve the problem with that? Another example: I have a problem I can solve with Excel. I don’t have Excel in this setting. How can I solve it with bash scripts?

And then I can extend this with: I have a problem that a group of degree-holding engineers can solve. I don’t have those people. What I have are 18-year-old high school seniors. How can I solve this problem?

Hmm. Use a tool to suggest tools. There may be something to this. All I have is a hammer. How do I make my problem look like a nail?