AI for the Joyful Learner: Breaking Free from the Frenzy
Rediscovering the Joy of Learning: Personal Journeys with AI as Your Guide
I have a sense the readers of this newsletter are walking through a different or new door. You’re interested in creativity more so than productivity. You are here to learn something and explore or maybe reignite your love of learning. Thank you for being here.
The number of new signups with last week's official launch of this Substack Newsletter was a huge surprise for me. Thank you!
My goal with AI for Lifelong Learners is summed up in a recent quote from economist Tyler Cowen, “ Experts from other fields often turn out to be more correct than ‘relevant’ experts."
Stepping back a bit
I have been around AI research and developers since the 1980s. You could feel the power of a future dream coming true back then with new "amazing" ideas that were emerging. We’re seeing those dreams come true now.
Those dreamers were largely a community of researchers with a vision at MIT and Xerox PARC and we have all benefited today from their inventions. The current crop of AI pundits is really still tiny. They are microscopic in size compared to the worldwide embracement of AI in business and in our personal lives.
Yes, the AI pundits are loud and omnipresent in hundreds of articles and newsletters pontificating one side of the coin or the other - the AI accelerationist and the AI doomers. Even if you add in the relentless cadre of promises of new riches for everyone - you know - the get something for nothing siren that AI will make you rich. All that noise is small in comparison to a growing curious global population embracing and experimenting with AI tools because they (you) want to learn and expand their mind. You want to explore new ideas to enjoy life more.
Getting on board
Forget about "falling behind" in the current AI hype. You're in good company with the rest of the world not caught up in the frenzy. People that relish the opportunity every day to learn something new, to dive into a topic or entire subject area with gleeful expectation of learning something that brings you joy, expands your mind and interconnects you with people and cultures.
Do not be discouraged if you feel you are late to the AI game - that being the game of staying ahead and relevant. You are in better company with the rest of the world not being directly involved with all the hype around AI.
Coming Next
I will be sending you ideas you can try out yourself along with insights to help you understand where AI works and doesn't work. More importantly, I hope to inspire your curiosity to build a personal rapport with AI tools.
Hint, it's all about how you ask your questions - be it with an AI Tool or a real person.🙂. Start now, send me a question or post in the Substack chat area for this newsletter and get ready to do the same with an AI tool.
Itching to get started? Then go here to learn a few basics in how to talk with an AI.
Note: you can use ideas from this source for 'any' LLM you wish, e.g., ChatGPT, Claud.ai, Bard.Google.com. I’ll be telling you the pros and cons of using various LLMs (large language models).
Another tip for the audio podcast audience; tune in to The AI Breakdown: Artificial Intelligence News and Discussions. The Breakdown Network. I listen to it daily.
Each show is short, to the point and doesn’t get too technical. In the December 18th post, the host explores how companies are increasingly combining natural language chat interfaces with other types of interfaces that are custom designed for specific use cases.
A natural language interface is what you want to learn how to use and communicate with and we’ll discuss this further week to week.
Bring a friend.
Tom