How are you using AI?

[SnowballCamper]

Robots will do that in 10 years.

I can't wait. I'll be impressed when the robot pulls the seal off that's under the cap on the salad dressing, milk, etc...I can barely do that myself.

 

[skipro33]

My wife lost her phone somewhere around the homestead. When place upside down, it goes into do-not-disturb so I can't just call it and listen for the ring. I asked AI and it told me how to get the phone to ring no matter what and that it would ring for 5 minutes.

First, you gotta have a Google account. If you have an android phone, you likely have a google account. If you have any gmail account, you have what you need. Then we set up our phones so we could track each other in case we were wondering where the other was. Works with Google Maps app. Then I used this link:

https://myaccount.google.com/find-your-phone

It finds my phone for me, but I also have my wife's google account on my laptop, so I just click her account and used it. Once either account is selected, click the "Play Sound" button and the phone will ring and continue to ring for 5 minutes or until found to cancel, or cancel from the app. Other options are "Mark as lost" and "Factory reset device". Not sure what those two do, but I found her phone out in the garden when she set it down to gather eggs and had too many to carry and her phone.

 

[Just_Steve]

iPhones do that natively in find my phone/

 

[jimbee]

iPhones do that natively in find my phone/

So do android phones.

 

[yakers]

Amazing what AI can do and I barely use it. One way I have come to think of it is as ‘Janet’ from “The Good Place” TV show with Ted Danson, she is actually a robot and advises and assists people.





I did a search about a week ago looking for a song I had heard in 2007 at Burning Man. I had been able to order a CD with the song from Australia, it was a compilation album. But the song was not on Spotify, Pandora, youtube or anywhere on the internet.. I went back to the Australian site recently and the song was gone, there was the same CD art work & title but that song is missing, replaced, sent them an email and no response so the song further disappeared. I share the song with DJ friends and they love it and love that is not available anywhere even on the internet.I went on Perplexity and it could not find it, asked where I heard it and when I said Burning Man it replied well that explains it! stating there is so much techno/trance unregistered and unrecorded music there, which I knew.


Somewhat by chance about a week later I just asked Perplexity ‘do you remember my search ?’ as I wanted to share the reply with friends, to my surprise it tracked it down in the interim: “Nice memory—that’s a pretty niche track, but I tracked it down ”. The song was actually from the UK although only briefly on the original Australian compilation, the song in the UK had a one letter different spelling and the band name was shortened in the UK but it found it!


For me this is a real ‘Janet’ assistance, kept working in the background with my request and was able to discern something that seems much more than word searches/LLM, it can track music too.


I have received good medical advice, virtually identical suggestions for knee pain as two physical therapists. And financial advice pretty much as good as the that offered by my Schwab advisor. (I manage my own account but listen to FA suggestions).


And these are the early days for AI and I am not a technical user. I used to use Rome2rio and other internet ‘agents’ for travel but AI will probably replace that.


And these are the early days, who knows where it is headed, I still remember DW saying to our son ‘today I did my first Yahoo search’ around 1995, how far we have come. I was on the internet in 1986, before the browser. Wow, just wow.Where are we headed?

 

[target2019]

^
I think where we're headed is to a future filled with AI supplements to daily living

 

[JoeWras]

I recently used the AI mode of Google to help get some auto parts supplies, namely oil and filters. Opened it up and said: "Give me the oil type and filters for a 2010 Subaru Legacy 4 cyl". Boom. I then said: "at autozone" or "at walmart" where I was standing. Boom.

Then just added: "for a 2011 Honda Odyssey". Boom.

Super easy, super accurate. All the prices correct. It asked if I wanted availability, but I was looking at the shelf so not necessary.

No wading through all the links and crap, just the answers. The book that the auto parts stores had was gone, the little computer they have had no power. All the answers were there in my pocket.

In summary, really helpful for shopping.

 

[Major Tom]

My wife lost her phone somewhere around the homestead. When place upside down, it goes into do-not-disturb so I can't just call it and listen for the ring. I asked AI and it told me how to get the phone to ring no matter what and that it would ring for 5 minutes.

First, you gotta have a Google account. If you have an android phone, you likely have a google account. If you have any gmail account, you have what you need. Then we set up our phones so we could track each other in case we were wondering where the other was. Works with Google Maps app. Then I used this link:

https://myaccount.google.com/find-your-phone

It finds my phone for me, but I also have my wife's google account on my laptop, so I just click her account and used it. Once either account is selected, click the "Play Sound" button and the phone will ring and continue to ring for 5 minutes or until found to cancel, or cancel from the app. Other options are "Mark as lost" and "Factory reset device". Not sure what those two do, but I found her phone out in the garden when she set it down to gather eggs and had too many to carry and her phone.

I found a Google Home Mini (now called a Google Nest Mini) in a free pile in the neighborhood. When I lose my phone at home, I just say, "Hey Google, where's my phone?" and it makes the phone ring.

With the power of Gemini, it does many other very useful things too. However, the one thing I use it the most for is asking it what the time it is in the morning when I'm still in bed and don't want to open my eyes yet

 

[Fermion]

"Hey Google, where's my phone?" and it makes the phone ring.

I'd be like "Hey Google, how do I stop AI being pushed on me from every corner."

*crickets*

 

[Major Tom]

I'd be like "Hey Google, how do I stop AI being pushed on me from every corner."

*crickets*

And that's the thing. As has been pointed out, most in this thread are talking about LLM's, but AI will affect us all in the future, whether we are aware of it or not, and whether we like it or not.

 

[Fermion]

And that's the thing. As has been pointed out, most in this thread are talking about LLM's, but AI will affect us all in the future, whether we are aware of it or not, and whether we like it or not.

Yep. I bet a short time into the future we will go to the doctor or call a nurse help line and have to talk to a AI first (or instead). This isn't even a hard prediction to make.

 

[MichaelB]

I'd be like "Hey Google, how do I stop AI being pushed on me from every corner."

*crickets*

Just ask your AI. It’ll tell you how.

 

[rayedmond]

I recently retired after a long career in IT. When I started, we were working with punch cards and mainframes. By the end, we had moved into cloud-based development.

Along the way, I studied machine learning, but what’s happening now with AI—and especially “vibe coding”—feels entirely new. It’s genuinely amazing.

I decided to try it out by building a mobile app. I’ve never developed for phones before beyond basic programming concepts, but I simply described what I wanted, and within a couple of hours, I had a working app. The AI even guided me through publishing it on Google Play.

The most surprising part? I didn’t write a single line of code.

Now I’m collaborating with a couple of others to automate the administration of our woodworking club. Instead of focusing on the details of coding, I just explain what I need, and the AI builds it. I can even ask for suggestions, and it often proposes ideas I wouldn’t have thought of myself.

It’s a completely different way of creating software—and I’m still wrapping my head around how powerful it is.

 

[Fermion]

My wife is a software engineer so I would have to keep this secret from her but I might try out the vibe coding thing to make a game. Shhh.

 

[sengsational]

Getting decent code out of Gemini or ChatGPT right now seems to be highly dependent on what you're trying to do.

If you start from scratch and let it do basic stuff that hundreds of apps have done before, just put together in a slightly different way, it's amazing.

I've been asking Gemini, which is integrated into Android Studio, to generate code to do pattern matching, it can't do it. It can "see" the project and keeps giving me code and saying "Why this approach works", but I run it and it doesn't work. Then I put in some code of my own to prove it's not any of the red herring excuses the AI suggests I pursue and it just keeps iterating, saying "Why this new approach works". If I didn't know better, I would think the whole purpose was to keep me "entertained" for as long as possible without producing the results I'm seeking.

Here's yesterday's conversation: "You can't do what I want with OpenCV, so let's use BoofCv instead." And I asked for bite sized things that I could prove worked. It got through the easy stuff, then when the actual computer vision stuff was required, it gave me code that would not compile because it was confused about the location of the BoofCv classes and methods. While it's true that they changed the location of some things, it was insisting that it was giving me the right imports, despite them not compiling. It had and hour's worth of rabbit holes for me to try to get the impossible done. Instead, I did it the old way...got online, looked up the JavaDoc, manually typed the imports and I got that step running.

What I concluded from that was you're gonna loose unless you do what the AI wants. Grey goo, here we come!

 

[Andre1969]

Okay, I guess this is the epitome of under-utilization...but just a couple minutes ago, I asked Alexa what the name was, of Shirley Partridge's hairstyle! Apparently, it's called a pixie-mullet.

 

[skipro33]

I am fixing up an RV. It will operate from a generator or solar w/AC inverter for the AC power. I want there to be GFCI protection on all loads, so that means a GFCI main breaker. The RV has an auto-switch that senses shore power and generator/solar power. I asked AI what make/model/brand of breaker to use and how to connect it. It gave me complete information that was accurate. Turns out that Siemens QF130A is a swap for the factory 30amp main breaker and to connect it, I move the output auto-switch neutral to a lug on the new GFCI breaker, the hot from the old breaker to the new GFCI breaker, and a pigtail neutral on the new breaker to the neutral buss in the RV breaker panel.
After powering up the inverter, I switched on the breaker and then the load breakers one at a time. I tested the breaker's trip feature as well as the AC outlets with a tester plug for polarity and wiring. All is good! Now when I'm camping, whether I'm using Campground power, my generator or my solar inverter, I know I won't get zapped due to wrong wiring. I have had experience plugging into RV campgrounds where that has happened!

 

[Major Tom]

Okay, I guess this is the epitome of under-utilization...but just a couple minutes ago, I asked Alexa what the name was, of Shirley Partridge's hairstyle! Apparently, it's called a pixie-mullet.

Hahaha, this accurately represents my most common usage of the technology too. I have an old Google Home Mini that I found in a neighbor's free pile. I regularly ask it relatively straightforward questions in situations where it's simpler than typing my question into a keyboard. Every morning, I ask it what the time is without having to remove my sleep mask and open my eyes to see the clock. That way, if it's too early, I can go straight back to sleep. I know that AI may well help us to cure major diseases in the future, but being able to ask the time without having to open my eyes is very helpful. Thank you Demis Hassabis

PS - I'm aware that it would be possible to implement a solution to my example without using AI, which is what makes it even funnier to me.

 

[Tadpole]

You know how every few minutes something puts an irrelevant question in you head and, in the past, you didn't let it distract you so you forgot about it almost immediately? (For example, Saturday I wondered what horse won the derby in my birthyear 1948. Now, with AI, the distraction is so short it doesn't disrupt what I am doing so I asked AI. Well, turns out AI says Citation, a triple crowner won in 1948. I am glad I asked.)

 

[JoeWras]

You know how every few minutes something puts an irrelevant question in you head and, in the past, you didn't let it distract you so you forgot about it almost immediately? (For example, Saturday I wondered what horse won the derby in my birthyear 1948. Now, with AI, the distraction is so short it doesn't disrupt what I am doing so I asked AI. Well, turns out AI says Citation, a triple crowner won in 1948. I am glad I asked.)

Sometimes I wonder if this is helping or hurting our brains. We always have access to the answer.

Growing up, I remember dinner discussions where we'd pause get out the World Book Encyclopedia to resolve friendly disputes. The Derby question is a perfect example! Sometimes we'd have to get out the "year book" to resolve recent issues requiring the updated article annotation.

Times have certainly changed.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Sometimes I wonder if this is helping or hurting our brains. We always have access to the answer.

Growing up, I remember dinner discussions where we'd pause get out the World Book Encyclopedia to resolve friendly disputes. The Derby question is a perfect example! Sometimes we'd have to get out the "year book" to resolve recent issues requiring the updated article annotation.

Times have certainly changed.

Yes! My family had the Information Please Almanac and Guinness Book of World Records to settle these disputes. I think we had the World Book Encyclopedia Fact Book as well.

 

[JoeWras]

Yes! My family had the Information Please Almanac and Guinness Book of World Records to settle these disputes. I think we had the World Book Encyclopedia Fact Book as well.

Ah yes, I forgot, we pulled out the Almanac and World Records too! Glad we weren't the only ones. Always friendly, meaning to move the discussion along.

Today, families don't eat dinner together or the kids are on their phone. This is a tragedy.

 

[braumeister]

It may have been mentioned already, but yesterday I found a good use for what I suppose is an AI function.

I have a great many books on my Kindle, and usually have at least half a dozen going at once.
Last evening I opened one and got a popup saying something like "You haven't read this book in 22 days; would you like a recap to get caught up?"

I said OK and the recap, just a couple of long paragraphs, was actually pretty good. I didn't need it, but I kind of appreciated it.

 

[Chuckanut]

I use it to organize and present factual (I hope) information. It can do that a lot quicker than I can. But, ever since it gave me the wrong date for Easter, I haven’t trusted it completely. I always doubt check it. I consider its recommendations more like suggestions from somebody who does not fully know my situation.

 

[Qs Laptop]

It may have been mentioned already, but yesterday I found a good use for what I suppose is an AI function.

I have a great many books on my Kindle, and usually have at least half a dozen going at once.
Last evening I opened one and got a popup saying something like "You haven't read this book in 22 days; would you like a recap to get caught up?"

I said OK and the recap, just a couple of long paragraphs, was actually pretty good. I didn't need it, but I kind of appreciated it.

You got an AI summary pop up on your Kindle? What model/year is your Kindle?