Gen AI is the first informational technology that has prioritized fluency over accuracy, the first technology…

At one point in my life a couple of decades ago, I decided I might go live in a developing country, teach English and write novels in my spare time. Turns out that isn’t what happened, but I did study and get a "CELTA", a qualification to teach English as a foreign language. in that course, I learned the importance of balancing the teaching of Accuracy versus Fluency. It is important for someone to learn to speak a language correctly (accuracy), but at the same time to pick up confidence and the ability to flow creatively (fluency). If you stop someone every three words to correct their grammar, they will never get fluency. I would like to argue that one of the quite discombobulating things about the current wave of Generative AI is that it is the first time computers have seemed to focus more on fluency than accuracy. The vast majority of our computer experiences to date have been very accurate (the computer gives a correct, predictable answer) versus fluent (the computer creatively flows, even if it makes the occasional mistake). I have noticed this particularly when working with genAI to generate pictures. It constantly amazes me, makes me smile and gives me creative input way beyond what I could do alone. Getting early views of OpenAI's Sora text-to-video capability is even more breathtaking. But it is incredibly hard to create a picture with genAI that is exactly what I want. Like a bar chart for example. Or a picture with exact text on it. Or a picture that is exactly the same as the one just generated with one minor difference. Now I suspect there may well be some AI tools that can do some more accurate charts and other specific types of graphic now, and future AIs that are more narrow and domain-specific will probably nail a lot of this, but the general point remains: Generative AI is the first informational technology that is better at fluency rather than accuracy. And that changes the relationship we humans have, can have, should have, want to have with it. If I allow myself to be a little weird, I might also say that most technology is traditionally very Confucian. (A Confucian saying: “If the mat was not straight, the master would not sit.”) Generative AI is a little more Taoist. Observe the flow and adapt to it. Go with the flow. #Unthink #Unask #Unlean #AI #GenerativeAI #GenAI