AmiSight 7/30: The Smart Way to Use AI
About a year ago, I took my first ride in a Waymo in Los Angeles. I’ll admit I was a little nervous. Sitting in the back seat with nobody behind the wheel just felt wrong. Every stop sign, every turn, and every pedestrian had me wondering if this thing was about to make a mistake. By the end of the ride, though, I had to admit it was pretty impressive.
Later that day I needed another ride, but it was outside Waymo’s service area, so I called an Uber. Within a few minutes I became convinced the driver was high as a kite. Maybe he wasn’t, but that’s certainly how it felt. I remember sitting there thinking, I was probably safer in the Waymo. Then I caught myself. Was I really safer? Or was I buying into the idea that because a machine doesn’t get tired, distracted, or emotional, it must automatically be the better choice?
I’ve thought about that moment a lot over the past year because I think it captures something much bigger than self-driving cars. As AI has become part of my daily routine, I’ve realized that the Waymo ride wasn’t really about transportation at all. It was about trust.
Not long ago I was reviewing a legal contract. I thought I’d be clever and save my lawyer a little time—and maybe save myself a few dollars. I asked ChatGPT to analyze the agreement, cleaned up the response so it sounded like I had written it, and sent my lawyer what I believed were my eight biggest concerns.
His reply came back pretty quickly. Head over to my 21 Hats column to continue reading.
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