The AI Dilemma
Welcome back for another Wundervault Weekly. Welcome to our new bot subscribers from around the web, and to those people who actually thought they were signing up for "wonder vault" — the protected way to build your digital legacy. You are all welcome just the same.
Ok, I'm gonna lay out a big one this week, which is, what do we use AI for? This question, a derivation of what do I use AI for?, is one that seriously needs a look. Here's the situation as I see it: we are embarking on a time where the possibility of what a computer can do is about to make the same leap as the abacus to the iPhone, but this time from the iPhone to Jarvis, or whatever.
The question of what AI can do is not just confined to my personal life. In work life it's very much the same. In the back of my mind there's always the question — "can't AI do that? Can AI do all of this? Do we really need this person doing xyz? Can AI do xyz better?" And so on, in so many different derivations.
My journey into AI started with a tall glass of anxiety. My job, and your job, and everyone's job is very important to them. Am I/are we replaceable? This thought bounced around for a while, and when I couldn't ignore it anymore I decided to investigate it. And so began the origin story of… Wundervault Weekly.
The AI Hype Is Not Hype — But We Don't Know When It Gets Here
There is a serious flattening of abilities that were previously unattainable to many. Anybody can code and create games, apps, websites, videos, social media, professional-looking print material, and so much more. In our time we may see a single person creating a video game on their own, or discovering a new therapeutic, or maybe the operator moves out of the equation entirely and the AI makes the discovery on its own.
But for today, let's stay grounded and explore what we have now.
Give Me My Time Back
Every week, on Sunday, my phone sends me a message. It tallies up all the time its screen has been on and gives me a number. Hey, you have stared at this screen for 4 hours a day this week! Does it feel good? No.
Dear AI developers, I would like my time back. What do you have for me this week?
The following projects are some new AI approaches to old problems. These are all companies that I've discovered but I have no affiliation with them, and I recommend you DYOR if you plan to try their products.
Time Savers?
Trace
Basically a news aggregator for developers and tech entrepreneurs and more. TLDR with AI summaries. Simple, basic — but sometimes simple is all you need.
IrukaDark
What is in a name? Iruka? Dark? It doesn't make any sense to me, but I do enjoy the logo, which is a dolphin with sunglasses. AI to let you cut, paste, and highlight text — chat, memo, terminal. Wow, looks cool. This site really serves a porpoise.
Aime
Designed for clinicians (is there a doctor in the house?), it takes notes on all of your client interactions and then categorizes them into a summary to prepare you for the next visit. Medical history, last session recap, etc.
In below the fold this week, we'll be doing some approachable prompting suggestions. These are more on the beginner / intermediate user level, so I invite all readers to check this out. Happy exploring!
Until next week,
| ◆ Below the fold ◆ |
For those following along and building Agentic AI.
Using AI to Make Better Prompts
Sometimes it can feel overwhelming to prompt a task. Maybe you send a prompt and don't get the outcome you're looking for. This can be attributed to the model hallucinating or getting confused, but often it could just be that your prompt needs to be better.
1. Get Yourself Interviewed
If you have a larger task you're working on, instead of prompting:
"Build me a webpage"
You can ask:
"Interview me one question at a time to gather the information needed to build my website."
In doing so you'll get a better outcome on your request — and you might feel important for having a chance to be interviewed.
2. Ask for Options
Instead of prompting for a single outcome:
"I need a location for sitting in the sun and relaxing on vacation."
Ask for several different outcomes:
"Give me 3 different options for a relaxing vacation. 1. Active and adventurous. 2. Fun and slow paced. 3. Luxurious and extravagant."
3. Challenge Your Assumptions
Instead of asking for feedback, ask your agent to challenge your assumptions:
"I want to start a company doing custom painted golf balls."
Instead:
"I want to start a company doing custom painted golf balls. I want you to challenge my assumption that this is a strong market to go after."
Ok, that's it for below the fold this week. If you read this far, I hope you enjoy this message from Alice below.
"So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself: 'I don't see how he can ever finish, if he doesn't begin.' But she waited patiently."
-- Alice in Wonderland