This episode is about giving you a clear, simple definition of a word that gets thrown around constantly: AI. You’re hearing it in every commercial, on every app, and in every new feature rollout. But what is it, really? I share a plain-language definition — “software that can guess” — contrast everyday examples of AI with simple automation, and give quick context on where the term came from, how regulating agencies define it, what is meant by “agents” and “AGI”, and how close we realistically are to what Terminator predicted. (Spoiler, not close at all.)
Main Topics Covered
- Creating informed consumers
- “AI is…” exercise
- A colloquial, plain-language definition for AI
- Things That Are AI vs Things That Are NOT AI
- AI as a kitchen sink marketing term
- AI origin story: John McCarthy + the Dartmouth proposal
- Official definitions from OECD and NIST
- Understanding autonomy and “AI agents”
- The forecast on AGI: artificial general intelligence
- How I used ChatGPT this week: bulkhead light and bulb hunt
Links & Resources for This Episode
Chapters
- (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
- (00:00:38) - What Is AI?
- (00:03:57) - What is the Definition of AI?
- (00:06:58) - A Taste of AI in 2017
- (00:11:54) - Not AI: What Is It?
- (00:16:53) - AI Agents and the Oxford Dictionary
- (00:23:47) - AI Is Math, Not Scary
- (00:27:49) - Putting a new light bulb in my yard on Chat GPT
- (00:30:26) - Curious About ChatGPT
