STAH #1 - AI

Software and Tech At Home - STAH

I am starting to like the idea of doing individual articles for long and hearty subjects than cramming them into huge and fast moving pieces. As I go through my backlog, I have a lot of them. So I am splitting them up into little series. We'll see how that goes.

In this series, I want to go over technology, software, and maybe some other stuff that just works for me at home. It could be for anything. It's just things I find useful at home.

Up on today's plate - the controversial AI. Look, it works. I'll talk about why.

AI = ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, etc.

Due to the current climate of AI, I feel as though I have to state my opinion here. Look, it isn't going anywhere and it's not as dangerous as everyone believes. It does have it's downsides though, just like everything in life.

AI is not autonomous. AI is not inherently evil. AI is not human. AI... for anyone non-technical, is like a giant database of the internet, and it can search, connect similar things, and present you with it's findings. At it's core, that's essentially what it is. I'll have different articles on why I feel it's a bit invasive, but for just general use; it's a great tool.

When you learn how to use it, you'll find it's helpfulness and how genuinely awesome it can be. Just be warned; don't treat it like a human. It may speak as such, sometimes even coming off as friendly - it's not. It's a bunch of machines and servers.

Let's be real; living in a house or apartment, rented or owned, there's so many things that happen every single week that just sucked. AC goes out. The sink goes awry. A fridge stopped working. A kid put a hole in the wall or stained something. You start having car problems. The sprinkler system is too complicated. The TV stops working. Internet goes out. I could go on for hours, but I won't, you get it as an adult.

What I love about AI, is that it is often the expert in the room at all times. If you don't understand something, ask AI. If you have a problem, AI might have some ideas. Struggling with something, tell AI about it and it'll help out. Having trouble with something not working? AI will have ideas.

One piece of advice though to keep in mind from here through this article - AI needs context. You can say - "my tv isn't working. how do I fix it?" or... you can say "I have a Roku and a Samsung TV. When I try to open anything and it just says there's an error. How can I fix this?" The answer difference here will be wild. AI doesn't know anything about what you have. You have to be specific. The more specific you are, the better answers it will give.

For many years, people have built businesses based on apps and things that have a set of specific information and plans to learn things. Maybe a language, a new software, building stuff, or trying something new. It's not that those have become irrelevant, but they're becoming less and less useful as AI can often give you exactly what you need to learn.

I'll give you a few examples. At work, there's a lot of things on my current team that I just don't know how to do. I often go to AI to help me get started. When we moved into my most recent house, I had no idea how to use my sprinkler system; AI walked me through setting up things and learning what it can do. When I was trying to figure out how to mix properly, I worked back and forth with AI, learning a lot about frequency, tooling, and various tips and tricks I probably would've never found online.

AI isn't Google; it's a step ahead. Use that to your advantage, whether it be at home or at work.

You are told a bunch on a daily basis, and you make a lot of decisions on a daily bases. A lot of those things are potential harmful, either physically, mentally, or maybe even financially. Don't ever let unknowing haunt you or suffer consequences of just assuming things. Let AI give you at least an opinion.

We use it quite a bit on substances, and whenever we spend money. It's really good at finding deals, giving us other questions to ask, and really making us think about what we're doing. Need to analyze the price of something? Find a discount? Understand if that random thing your kid or dog swallowed is dangerous? AI can help. Let it.

I've got a serious problem on starting anything. I am smart enough to know that I am not a good "make something out of thin air" type of guy. I tend to be better at fixing, tweaking, and solving things. I bet a bunch of you are too.

So let AI do the starting for you. Don't know what software to download? AI will give you some options. Need a slideshow for something? Let AI make the initial slide deck and you can edit as necessary. Need a document? Let AI create it first, then you make it good. Don't know if you can afford something? Let AI find the real cost of things. Want to start a new hobby or thing? Let AI do the initial research.

It's opened quite a large amount of doors for me. I know it can for you too.

Honestly, don't think of AI as a replacement to anything, rather as an improvement and accessory to whatever you're doing. It does equip you with knowledge and can do a lot to help you in many areas.

Just be careful how you use it. You need context, and you need to understand that not everything it says is 100% truth. Sometimes it gets things wrong. Most of the time, you just didn't give it enough context. Do not be afraid if it says something weird to have it clarify and ask it questions challenging it. You'll find it much more useful that way.

Also, whatever AI you use - I would suggest you find a way to store in it to not be overly happy or accepted of your questions. Tell it to be blunt, short, and leave the kindness at the door. I find this way, it often gives you better answers.

Anyway... have fun with it.