Coding matters: Who is Vic?

Illustration of a masked man with a wide hat and moustache - like Zorro.

Victor Miller recently filed paperwork to run for the mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA. But he doesn’t intend to run as himself. He is the human "representative" of a customized AI chatbot.

The chatbot came up with the name “Virtual Integrated Citizen” to match the name of “Vic” that Victor used for his application.

Vote for Vic

Miller’s campaign promise? If elected, the AI bot will make all the political decisions and help govern the city.

He points out that VIC can analyze all the legal documents for policy decisions with ease. But humans probably won’t actually read the hundreds of pages. That’s definitely a fair statement.

He says the bot has better ideas — and a better grasp of the law — than many people currently serving in government. VIC has prioritised policies that we all support: “clear communication with citizens; fostering a strong local economy … embracing new technologies to improve public services and infrastructure.”

VIC might make decisions based on AI hallucinations, but they won’t be based on nepotism.

The powers-that-be argue that Vic (the human) is violating the election code. OpenAI claims that VIC (the bot) violates their policies against political campaigning.

Maybe it’s a gimmick. But it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Fruity AI

For once, Apple is late to the game. They are trying to brand the AI add-ons for the iPhone as “Apple Intelligence”. I suppose an acronym like AAI or AIA would be a mouthful.

A scathing AI rant (not by me)

Warning: The linked article contains lots of bad language. Please don’t read it if that will offend you.

An Australian software engineer writes a blog about developer frustrations, including corporate dysfunction.

Despite the foul language, much of what he writes is valid and humorous. I want to share a few thoughts from his article on AI. It’s a long article, and that is not a summary. (Again: don’t click on this link unless you can tolerate a lot of foul language.)

The author is so tired of executives who want to roll out anything AI, because it’s the latest buzzword. They don’t understand the technology and they don’t have clear use cases.

He recognises the importance of AI. But, he points out, most businesses don’t need to do anything to reap its benefits. Many software vendors have licenced AI technology to incorporate into their products. So it’s already part of your business software. Even WhatsApp and LinkedIn offer AI to help you write your messages.

You don’t need to roll out experimental technology to stay ahead of the competition. You’d be better off fixing your systems and improving your operations and culture.

And if AI is poised to take over the world, he writes, you probably won’t need to worry about the company’s bottom line.

What do you think about this? Please share your comments.

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