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LOL! This week another big name announced AI initiative! Amazon already offers AI services in AWS. If Apple decides to throw the hat in the ring and Netflix decides to join the fun by launching a show about the AI race this AI-fueled story will not lack FAANG! Expect a lot of bytes! 😊
https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-launch-ai-language-model-llama-2023-02-24/
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” is a well known saying attributed to Oscar Wilde (It’s also attributed to Charles caleb Colton). Recent happenings made me think about it. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been the rage past couple of months. It’s a chatbot that interacts in a conversational way and many think that’s going to be the future of internet searches and many other applications. Microsoft has invested a significant amount of money in OpenAI’s chatbot. Google, which specializes in internet searches, has been working on its version of AI-powered chatbot Bard. In the wake of ChatGPT’s popularity and probably perceiving a threat to its online search dominance Google demonstrated Bard. The demo did not go smoothly as Bard’s response to a question was inaccurate. Microsoft decided to cash in on ChatGPT’s popularity and decided to release a beta version of Bing chatbot powered by ChatGPT’s AI with mixed results. Some who have tested have reported it makes up information and some have said the chatbot’s response has, to put it politely, not always been polite. Surely misery seeks company (or should I say “Companies seek misery”?)! 😄
Obviously long-term outlook for AI is promising but recent stumbles indicate it’s not quite ready for prime time wide usage yet. Since this piece is about imitation and technology I was struck by the announcement preceding layoffs by big tech companies in the recent past. Most announcements declared that the companies overestimated the demand in the wake of COVID pandemic, expanded too fast, hired in excess and the CEOs took personal responsibility for that. The language was strikingly similar it seemed as if all the companies had an aha/eureka moment at the same moment or each company decided to imitate the response of the other organizations’ that announced layoffs! 😊 In many fields (sports, business, technology, politics, entertainment etc to name a few) it appears the temptation to imitate, especially a bad example, is simply irresistible. Don’t know if it’s hubris or just a human tendency to take a bad example and prove it could be done even worse! Up there Oscar must be thinking “Imitation as sincerest form of flattery” has even exceeded his Wildest dreams! 🤣
LOL … Looks like Aaron Rodgers and I share a passion for washing dishes! 😀 Don’t believe it? No worries, The Raj always has the receipts to prove it ( https://therajblog.com/2020/01/11/therapeutic-value-of-dishwashing/ ) 😂.
Hey Aaron, there have been quite a few lows this season for Packers team and fans 😢. The season could still end on a high I think. Could swing by Mr Rodgers neighborhood, we could go on a Ayahuasca trip and experience a Packers High! 😉 What say? 🤣
It would be nice if human beings had built-in lane departure sensors. Would be even better if the sensors came equipped with steering assist! Imagine a scenario involving a politician spouting off like an expert scientist and the lane departure sensor gets triggered. He/She gets warned by the sensor to stay in their lane to avoid collision with knowledgeable experts. If he/she keeps talking after the warning steering assist should get activated in the form of mild electric shock, with increasing intensity every 30 seconds the warning is ignored, to make it more fun. 😂
Lane departure warning would work effectively with other folks like entertainers, businessmen, sportsperson and people from many other professions too to prevent them straying from their lane of expertise! The benefits are endless, what say? 😊
Hey, I am a dreamer 😃🙏
My friend, Ravenous Bunny, had a jolly good time I must say with a feast before frost. The end result: Tall stemmed plant is now looking Packers QB Aaron Rodgers with his new Peaky Blinders haircut 😂
Links to video clips of Ravenous Bunny below
https://youtube.com/shorts/nQCSuDRo2oQ?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/LRKfvlJChkg?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/lxwaUgjr1q4?feature=share
Went to a local pharmacy to pick up a prescription. While I waited in the line noticed an elderly gentleman waiting behind me. I asked that gentleman to go ahead of me. He had received a notification for picking up prescription refill yesterday. The pharmacist did not find any prescription ready for pickup. After checking the computer the pharmacist informed him that it had already been picked up yesterday. As I stepped up to the counter I had to ask the obvious question: Was the elderly gentleman picking up a prescription for forgetfulness? 
The pharmacist smiled and said no but he had quite a few other prescription refills 
If you kick the can down the road and reach the end of the road does the can turn into can’t?
Simple pleasures of life make for fun. One of my stupid, simple pleasures is popping bubbles in bubblewrap 😊 One night this week as I was cleaning and stuffing waste in trash bag in preparation for trash pickup the following day I noticed bubblewraps lying around. Some packages delivered recently had come wrapped in bubblewrap. My eyes widened and I said to myself “Forget cleaning, it’s time for some entertainment!” 😄 I started popping one bubble at a time. Found it would take too much time by the time I was done with all the bubbles. Then I decided a way to speed up the entertainment would be to use my foot and go about popping bubbles dragging my heel across the bubblewrap in a line, across and so forth! The dulcet tones of the bubbles bursting one after another in quick succession was like sweet music to my ears 👌😅 My wife who was in another room came into the room I was having fun in a little later and asked “What was that sound I heard?”. I responded “I was creating wrap music!” 😂 She cast a quizzical glance at me before she looked at the floor and realized what I was up to. As she turned to go back to a different room I added “I am working on my craft and if I keep at it I may even win a Grammy for the best wrap artist of the year!” 😉 She walked away shaking her head. 🤦♀️ The import of what I was doing hit me then! I am a dot-com bubble bu(r)ster and no ordinary one at that, I am Amazon dot-com bubble bu(r)ster. Ok, I will make it Prime Amazon dot-com bubble bu(r)ster if you insist. 😂 I think my show is ready for prime time and I don’t mean just Prime TV. I imagine lot of requests streaming in for my show. I love what I do, you can say I “act with love”! I am looking around me now and I see some bubblewraps around and some that are pillow shaped big ones. Man, I have a long way to go and hope my neighbors don’t make explosive allegations on hearing the big bubbles pop. I am getting stressed out. 😧 No worries, I just got to take a deep breath and carry on. Bubble popping can be a great stress buster too! 👍 Did you realize Señor Raj saved you the effort of asking “Alexa, what is love?” Providing new form of entertainment with opportunity to de-stress, that’s a public service act for sure. 👏
Wow, is there a better way to start the weekend? I didn’t think so either. 🤣 You are welcome 😊🙏
I honestly feel (😉) I was robbed of an opportunity to be University topper. Did someone say “Were you deprived of good tutoring and lacked guidance from teachers to put in focused effort?” Nah, that would have been too much hard work with no guarantee of success. A much simpler way I could have topped the University exams: Plead the Fifth! Hear me out and you will agree. For every question in the exam I should have answered “I plead the Fifth”. What would have happened if I had done that? When the exam results came out some talented and hardworking fella would have been declared the topper. 😡 That woulda been the right time for me to move in and declare I should have been the topper instead. What would have happened next? The University would have said I never answered any of the questions. To that my response would have been “I pled the Fifth because the exam questions were unfair and designed to prevent me from emerging as topper”. Noticing this in the news some successful lawyer/s with high-powered team would have taken up my case pro bono. 👍 Asking for a stay in declaration of exam results a date in the distant future would have been set to hear my case. I could then ignore repeated summons for me to appear in person for the case hearing claiming I was too busy to appear in court. A ruling would be issued against me. My legal team would then appeal against the ruling saying I never got a fair chance to state my case and take it to a higher court. The same scenario would play out till the case reached the highest court of the land in a few years. I would then appear in court and plead the Fifth to every question asked. Exasperated by all the delay and wary of dragging this case any further both sides would have reached a compromise: Declare me as joint topper! 👏
Would that be justice for the person who studied hard and topped the exam? I plead the Fifth, of course! 😂
P.S. What better day than Labor Day and Teachers’ Day in India to plead my case 😄
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