People are
not the only thing being replaced by AI.
On my
bookshelf is a book called How To Find Out Anything by Don MacLeod. It explains how to do advanced searches on Google.
That book is
now headed for the used book store in town.
By all rights, I should just toss it; but I can’t stand to throw away a
book.
I wonder how
many books are now irrelevant because of
Hey Google……………
the Ol'Buzzard
Well, if Wikipedia didn't make books obsolete, then hopefully AI won't either.
ReplyDeleteAI has the potential to change how we get information, but it will only be as good as the information from which it learns. As my university statistics professor said 40 years ago: garbage in, garbage out!
ReplyDeleteAI will lie through its teeth. Unless is provides actual sources to look up, it cannot be trusted. Friend of mine uses three AIs and compares their responses one to the others. And it will never replace service providers like nurses but may make diagnosis and treatment more accurate.
ReplyDeleteIrrelevant?! I'd say not. Between information on the internet disappearing, internet woes, AI being wrongwrongwrong, outright wrong information in general, books being rewritten, etc. books will never be irrelevant IMHO. As people who have relied on streaming movies have learned - a DVD won't disappear.
ReplyDeleteSome of the information in books, especially in science areas, is outdated. I'd be very leary of a medical book that recommends bleeding ill humors out of a body for everything. Even so, it would still be fascinating from a historical perspective.
OTOH, old books can contain information not found on the internet. For example, old needlework books contain information on materials no longer available and techniques not (easily?) found on the internet.