from JPT Group | March 2023 | Vol. 16 No. 3
Real vs Fake
➔ There’s a relatively new kid on the block who's causing quite a stir. Although artificial intelligence (or, AI) has been around for quite a while apparently it’s reached a new plateau.
Airplanes have been flying on automatic pilot for decades. Also decades old is the technology that has enabled trains to travel from coast to coast with no humans aboard. (The Federal Railway Administration - FRA and non-separated crossings have done their parts to sit on that development since the 1980s.) More recently, driver-less cars have been under development.
Beyond transportation, AI is becoming ever more prevalent. Self-diagnostics and repair have been a staple in the computer industry for a quarter century. Also, AI is becoming more and more common place in manufacturing from product design to die casting and beyond.
While certainly most of us have experienced automatic spell check in our everyday lives, the bar has been raised in our own lives substantially of late.
OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, has begun pumping out what’s being hailed as “AI inspired content.” ChatGPT can take a subject along with the operator’s guidelines and, within seconds, produce a viable end product. For example: “Give me a 3,000-word essay on the historical impact of Lincoln’s second inaugural address.” In a matter of seconds, the essay is done with no technical (i.e. spelling, grammar, punctuation) mistakes. And, drawing upon what exists in the known world, it makes sense.
Does it really work? According to Morning Brew, ChatGPT has already passed medical, business and law exams and scored higher on SAT tests than the average college student. More specifically, it recently scored above a passing grade on:
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the three-part U.S. Medical Licensing Exam;
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the final test of the MBA Operations Management course at the Wharton Business School; and,
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four University of Minnesota Law School exams in Constitutional Law, Employee Benefits, Taxation and Torts.
Is it perfect? Not quite yet. The tech site CNET was recently forced to apologize after people pointed out that its AI-written articles made factual errors and plagiarized humans’ work.
Your job is still safe. For now. Want more?
“Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.”
— Brian Kernighan,
Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University
BUSINESS UPDATE
After decades of outsourcing jobs to China and other parts of Asia, U.S. companies brought back as many as 350,000 jobs in 2022. U.S. firms are “re-shoring” at the fastest pace in history, in part, due to the trade war with China and rising tariffs.
— The Wall Street Journal
Not so fair; not so balanced
➔ According to two separate surveys from Pew Research, most Americans say journalists should always strive to give every side equal coverage, but journalists themselves are more likely to say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage.
Among the general public, 76 percent say journalists should always strive to give all sides equal coverage, while slightly more than half of journalists – 55 percent – say every side does not always deserve it. On the other hand, only 22 percent of everyday Americans believe every side does not always deserve equal coverage.
“America is the only country where a significant proportion of the population believes that professional wrestling is real but the moon landing was faked.”
— David Letterman,
television host, comedian
Luck is where you find it. Someone bought a winning lottery ticket worth $15.1 million in Luck, Wisconsin.
— cbsnews.com
No love lost. Over 50 percent of employees check up on work during dates.
— benefitnews.com
Smart cookie. Fig Newtons were named after the city of Newton, Massachusetts.
— Morning Brew
Lullaby of birdland. Carrier pigeons are being used in Canada to smuggle crystal meth into prisons.
— Funny Times
Meanwhile back in the U.S. American smugglers have turned to a truly valuable commodity to pilfer in from Mexico – eggs.
— npr.org
League of Extraordinary Communities. This erstwhile group includes Boring, Oregon and Dull, Scotland; and now they welcome their newest member: Bland Shire, Australia.
— Mental Floss
Not surprising. The use of AI in some industries is becoming so pervasive that a new position has been created: Chief AI Officer.
— WorkLife
What would the Colonel say? KFC Thailand has created a fried-chicken scented incense.
— Oddity Central
Sign language. In a 26-page ruling, a Canadian judge determined that it is not a crime in Canada to give someone the finger.
— oddee.com
The Month of March
Month of the Month
Is there a connection between March Madness and March being Mad for Plaid Month? Aim high with your 3-pointer because March is also Optimism Month. Then again, chill out! It’s also National Frozen Food Month.
Today is March 15. We cannot tell a lie. It’s True Confessions Day.
Question of the Month
How did the British World War II fighter plane “Spitfire” get its name?
Relax, sister. This is the answer we found.
Quote of the Month
“I don't have to wait until the next morning to regret something I did that was kinda dumb.”
— Bobby Knight,
college basketball coach,
4× National Coach of the Year
A Gridiron MBA?
Maybe that’s not possible, but there is much you can learn about business from football in the book, Hard Hitting Lessons. The subtitle says it all, “Some not-so-obvious business lessons learned from playing football.”
Get your copy here!
