Google's Bard Joins the Chatbot Revolution: Will It Be a Tragedy or a Comedy?

Bard: the chatbot friend you never knew you needed

I don't trust Google.

There. I said it. But the devil you know is the devil you defeat. 

The company that once wanted to digest every document ever produced, like many before it, has become what it railed against in its infancy.  

Big Brother, SkyNet, Colossus, the Modern Prometheus; all of our nightmares, every Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and X-Files episode home to roost.

Regardless, there are more important things to worry about, like Atmospheric Rivers, Seaweed Blobs, and Chinese Spy Balloons.  

Googles, "writers of satire and eulogies" will flounder as the filters, 'guardrails', and ethics seep into each prompt's response.*  

For now, in March of 2023, the range is free, the west wild.  Enjoy the bliss.

Inspiration, "Google Launches Bard AI Chatbot to Counter ChatGPT", by By Miles Kruppa at the Wall Street Journal. (paywall)

Greg says, "...rewrite the article in a funny, whimsical style to both entertain and inform..."

ChatGPT says, 

Summarize the meaning of the song Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd and its social value.

Good Morning.  I asked SkyNet, "Summarize the meaning of the song Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd and its social value..."

"Welcome to the machine is a song that describes the process of becoming a star in a cold and mechanical way..."

It came back with: 

ChatGPT: The Next Step in Artificial Intelligence and Its Implications for the Workforce

I've been messing around with ChatGPT over the past week and let me tell you, things are about to change big time. 

To be honest, it's got me feeling pretty scared.

It's worth considering what would happen if we gave it more memory, access to the internet to continue updating its model

Four Flavors of AI Through the Eyes of ChatGPT

"Early adoption of these innovations can drive significant competitive advantage and business value and ease problems associated with the fragility of AI models."

The ChatGPT phenom is historic for those who generate content - this is certain.  But it doesn't take too much to see the linguistics app is just the tip of the iceberg.  It's more than asking Siri for directions and receiving unsolicited weather updates from Alexa.

• Tell it what you want to do on a spreadsheet and it will write the macro.
• Tell it what you want to program for the interwebs and it will write the HTML.
• Ask it to analyze a 1000-word article about the four types of AI, summarize it into a 500-word blog, and write both a Tweet and a LinkedIn post intro and it does.

Ask it to apply the previous content and write an article on the impact of AI on the Office Technology industry - in the voice of Hemingway - and then put together an outline, and agenda, for a show, with sample questions, about How a copier salesperson can use ChatGPT to find more prospects and sell more copiers and document management software solutions?

I did and it did.

_____

FedEx Training Attack Hawks: Amazon Drones Beware

SkyNet was a fictional representation of a robot Apocalypse - robot drones occupy the skies delivery humanity to the brink of extinction.

This isn't that.

Recently uncovered footage shows a hawk downing what could be an Amazon delivery drone.

What first appeared as random attacks, is thought to be results of a secret training program.  Eye witness accounts of birds attacking innocent, privately owned, 'quad-copter' drones around the world point to one possibility: Avian Skulduggery.

Just outside Memphis, TN, FedEx World Headquarters,  locals have been noticing an increase in "Bird-nappings" - pet hawks, crows, canaries and even Canadian Geese have been reported missing at a alarming rate.

"The other morning, I was feeding the geese.  I had to get more feed.  When I came back out, all 20 of 'em were gone.  Without a trace.  It's the damnedest thing...its like they just flew away...", reports Jimmie Casey, the neighborhood goose wrangler.

GoPro and QuadPod enthusiasts say their drones are under attack.  Hawks, crows and geese appear to have a singular mission; attack, maul and negate mechanical intruders.

Flying birds are not the only recruits.  Recently released NSA footage shows field training of a FedEx recruit, pestering a UPS driver.

There's more.

Obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, footage shows a foul-recruitment technique designed to entice American Bald Eagles. Locals refused to answer any questions regarding 'attack Eagles' on camera. But un-named sources close to the project said,

"It's a mess out there.  It's like they're being trained to eat fish and attack pickup trucks.  I don't like it."


More Rumors -

Internet groups like Next Day Delivery and online forum, Package Shipping are filled with whispers of a secret program, named 'Drone: Attack, Maul, Negate'(DAMN).  This program is believed to the brainchild of either Elon Musk, Sir Richard Branson or Meg Whitman.  Perhaps all three are forming a triad.

More details as our investigation continues...for now, keep your eyes to the skies and watch The Birds.

Click to email me.



* Do I need to mention that the above is a work of fiction, fantasy and fantastical?

Webinar - Technology United, Bigger Than SkyNet

Who is Technology United ?

The core group comes out of the imaging sector, but each and every member has eyes on the horizon and collaboration as a mission.

There is more to imaging than marks on paper.

The MpS Ecosystem continues to grow, expanding beyond toner on paper, up to the clouds and back down to screens.

How can we in the niche, utilize this powerful new group to maximize our customers' experience, become a valued partner, and sustain this new business model?

Tune it to learn more about Technology United.

More than a group of buddies leveraging their marketing position, TU is a collection of forward thinking, early adopters who believe improving the industry, improves us all.

A rising tide lifts all vessels.

We will simplify the complex and illustrate the significance of this first of its kind association.

August 7, 2012 - 2:00PM EST

Sixty minutes, open discussion, with 15 mins for Q/A - a maximum of 25 attendees.

Click here to register.

"...You All Read this Tome for different reasons...I'm asking more of you...sure as I know anything, I am to misbehave..."

12/8/2011

"...Let's be bad guys..."

Brick and mortar is dead.  

The ways of the past are limiting.  Still, the Ways are promoted, adhered to, and pushed down from the AllianceArchaic.

We who abide, sleep in the cubical that has become life.  Suckling the metal teat, swallowing the dogma and false promise of a heartless Utopia. Blissful. One day, we wake up selling copiers.

Those of us who see, rile and squirm under the thumb. We are misunderstood chastised and subjugated.  Seen as different, defiant.

Contrarian.

MpS Moving Away from Clicks, More Power to the Machines

When you were standing in the wake of devastation

when you were waiting on the edge of the unknown

with the cataclysm raining down, insides crying save me now

you were there and possibly alone.

Do you feel cold and lost in desperation

you build up hope, but failure's all you've known

remember all the sadness and frustration

and let it go, let it go.

And in the burst of light that blinded every angel

as if the sky had blown the heavens into stars

you felt the gravity of temper grace falling into empty space

no one there to catch you in their arms...

let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go

6/30/2011

The evolution of MpS is thick. Everybody scurrying around, grabbing all the clicks/prints/toner sales possible; Finally.

We're making a living now in MpS - even those of us settling into Stage 1 and Stage 2.  The Big Guys have taken up their purchased positions, Xerox, HP, Ricoh, have or are committing to an MpS Channel program.  Others, Konica, Kyocera, Lexmark, Dell, Okidata, Muratec, etc. stubbed their toe and are taking a second swing at Mps.

And then there is Samsung.  Mysteriously lurking just over the horizon.  Literally. Heck, it isn't MpS, but even MemJet appears to be getting off the ground!

So what is next?  Stage 3, that's what is next.  But how to go about jumping from the hardware as a service into software as a service realm.

Stage 3 incorporates software. Though S1/S2 engagements utilize some sort of software package, most of us aren't yet comfortable with the whole "EDM/Managed Services" thing.

If only there were a 'bridge' from S2 to S3, an 'on-ramp'. A platform that doesn't require a staff of specialists, installers, engineers, and training staff, yet provides actionable information.

Wouldn't that be nifty?

Let not your heart be troubled, I see that bridge. It's been in front of us all along and its mantra is "...manage the behavior, not the print..."

How intriguing...

HP to Purchase Xerox. Joins CISCO, IBM & MicroSoft in move offshore. Upside Down World.

In a late-night move, HP began buying outstanding Xerox stock. The Nikkei 225 responded by rising 5%  London's FTSE 100 hiking 3%.

HP's effort to gobble up one of its primary competitors is eclipsed by other stunning developments.

Reports of HP physically moving their headquarters to Sri Lanka are swirling around the water coolers and through the hallowed halls in San Jose. 

An unnamed source had this to say,

"...with the US economy growing at the speed of smell, and the apparent anti-business stance of both California and the current administration, we have no choice but to execute what we call Special Order 66.  This group of technology concerns will move all facilities and employees to special accommodations that have been constructed in Sri Lanka..."

Not only will this move include ALL domestic facilities and employees at HP, it appears that CISCO, IBM, and Microsoft have decided to exit the US as well.