Artificial Intelligence is simply the ability of computers to do tasks as humans would.

I've heard about AI throughout my education in computer science, but I never really paid attention. I remember those days, Vice, now CEO of Copianto, brought some system he had developed to class, and he was describing it as an AI system for banking, and we all thought he was nuts. The code looked too simple, and it simplified everything. This was 2015/16 and he was way ahead.

But in recent times, AI has been on my mind almost every time. I'm only hoping this will not be another boring post on AI. The purpose of this post is to organise what I know about AI so far in writing and, once in a while, check in to read to remind myself. 

AI is not the next thing.

Yes, Artificial Intelligence is not the next thing, it's the thing. It's the final boss. 

AI is not anything new, it's been there for a long time; it's just that now we are all consuming and interested in it than usual. Maybe because of what ChatGPT did in 2021. That tool by OpenAI really opened up things for the world. Nobody really cared about AI that much, but when it became more consumer useful, we all couldn't take our eyes off AI. We use it for almost everything now.

How I use AI.

I use AI to create content for Text-based blogs Biznesnetwork, Ghanamarketer etc. I use AI to refine my code for web platforms I build for iRedylabs Clients, and I use AI to vibe code these days, often at work. I use Grok by xAI to troubleshoot. Find solutions to problems when I'm stuck in building stuff or setting up servers. 

AI is not going to take jobs.

I believe AI will transform how we work. Obviously, some jobs will be obsolete, the same thing happened with the invention of electricity, the same as the personal computer and even social media, but there was an emergence of new kinds of jobs. 

So it's mostly up to people to rethink their work and learn how they can help build AI systems, or here's how to approach it better: Understand the work you do, and find a way to use AI to make your work better. If not, someone who uses AI will take your job. Because there may be downsizing due to AI, businesses will only have to retain the very best to use AI, while the average will be made to go home, weird but true. 

Data and AI.

The lifeblood of AI is Data. Data is all the raw, unprocessed facts, concepts or instructions. The basic building blocks needed to build any Artificial Intelligence system. As a database administrator, I've been building small datasets ever since I got interested in AI. I think everyone should. Data is oil now and every tech person must start their own rig and mine their data. At the right time, it will be useful. 

Finally, I think we need to work on our own datasets of public information, especially something to preserve the past here in Africa and Ghana, otherwise the AI tools and LLMs will be giving us limited information. We need to find a way to digitalise our records and make them open for everyone in an organised way. 

What are you going to build with AI?