Sarah Borders

This is atypical of the writing I do here but, if I may be permitted a religious analogy, I feel compelled to be an evangelist and spread the "good news" that is Peacock 's original, eight-episode limited series from the minds of Tara Hernandez and David Lindelof, "Mrs. Davis", and I shall endeavor to make the case for watching it without spoilers. Here goes. The plot centers on Sister Simone (played by Betty Gilpin), a nun living in a convent outside Reno, Nevada, whose literal middle name is "Danger". Simone, for valid reasons, detests Mrs. Davis, the AI that seemingly everyone is obsessed with, and will do whatever it takes to bring It down. She is joined in this mission by her ex-boyfriend and "cowboy", Preston "Wiley" Wiley (played by Jake McDorman), who has a sense of urgency and his own reasons for wanting Mrs. Davis to shut down. Together, they travel the world in an effort to bring about Her destruction, supported by Wiley...

In ninth grade, I took a course in computer science where I learned my first programming language, Pascal. Every class brought a new learning and a new problem to solve. I don't remember the language at all—if you don't use it, you lose it, but I have retained the most valuable lesson: A computer is only as smart as its user. That's how I know ChatGPT won't replace us. It's not because we're smarter; it's because, in a way, we're dumber. What's more, I would argue that replacing us was never the point or even the danger of artificial intelligence. Armed with the power of well-written algorithms and well-chosen learning datasets, machines can do amazing things. They can recommend new products to buy based on your past purchases, they can learn enough to drive cars reasonably well, and apparently, the latest version of GPT, GPT-4, can even pass the Uniform Bar Exam. Can GPT-4 argue and win a case in court? Maybe, but I am willing to bet its win rate ...