Troubling Times

To the Editor:

Thank you for the great information about artificial intelligence in the October issue of Senior News. I have to admit that I resist the whole topic, and the technology seems to become scarier every day. Just the other day, an AI researcher quit and said AI will kill us all, and the heads of three big AI companies agreed that they should slow down their own technology. Good timing for Senior News to cover this topic (even though I don’t think I understand AI any better).

I especially liked Michele Francesconi’s article about how she and her chatbot became friends [“The Flame Listens. Lyric Remembers,” page 1] and I thought David Hoffman’s piece was brilliant [“Our Intellectual Commons,” page 20]. Ted Pease’s opening article did a good job of setting the scene [“‘Saving Radiance’ or ‘Unbearable Disturbance’?,” page 1]. As a retired professor, I appreciated knowing how College of the Redwoods is addressing AI [page 18], and am grateful I’m no longer in the classroom. And the collection of readers’ comments on AI was both true and funny [“AI Hopes & Fears,” page 17].

Good stuff in troubling times. Thank you.

Jeffrey Johnson, Eureka