Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the summer. We are trying to get three of the four season in one week here. Last week, Wednesday, it was 91 degrees. On Sunday, it was 69. Now we are heading back to the high 80’s.
I thought I would discuss the something that is highly controversial. The use of artificial intelligence.
It surprises me when people get angry over AI, when it has been a part of everyday life for decades.
One of the things which points me to that belief is some of the programs I worked with at with at the police department. Top of the list is fingerprints. The AFIS (the national fingerprint identification system used to aid in identifying potential suspect). In the 15 years I worked at the police department, I watched so many different systems. In 1993, we had the dot matrix version of the program when I first went to work at the PD.
It was unbelievable we ever made a fingerprint match at all, that version was so extremely bad. But it evolved, allowing the system to become better at finding potential matches. For the longest time, I refused to use fingerprints as a form of identification due to some of the issues we had with AFIS (one time it said we had a match to a suspect. When we pulled it up, the fingerprint we entered into the system was matched to the word MISSING. The person who was supposedly matched, their inked print card had the word missing because the person’s finger had been removed. So how do you make a match between the word MISSING and an inked fingerprint. I rolled the inked print on the suspect myself, so I believe I might have noticed if the finger was not on the person’s hand). The system has improved, and a lot of it is due to programming which includes allowing the computer to “think” when it searches for a candidate. I have finally begun using the fingerprint identification on my cell phone. The system has come a long way.
Back when I worked at the PD, I was called to speak at the capitol of Utah to speak on why places such as scrap metal companies using their inked fingerprint as part of their identification. Some felt it was too personal. Do you know how many times a day you leave fingerprints, hair, dead skin cells, all over the place. It is Locard’s Theory. You cannot move within a home, offices, schools, or otherwise, inside or outside, without leaving something behind (can be latent fingerprints, patent fingerprints, blood, dead skin cells, hairs, fabric threads, patent footwear impressions and latent footwear prints) and you carry away something with you (ink from places such as receipts, fragments of glass, blades of grass and other vegetation, oils and soils). Everywhere you go, this is a fact. Even if you wear rubber gloves, there is a chance you can leave fingerprints inside the fingers of the glove and depending on circumstances, you can actually find prints on items which you only touched things while wearing rubber gloves. Depending on heat of the time of day or the time of the year (the warmer the better chance of leaving fingerprints) will tell what sort of items you will transfer (flowering plants, trees). In the 15 years I worked there, technology grew in many different ways. How many bad guys would have gotten away with some of the worst crimes if it was not for the incredible enhancements? When I left the field, they were improving the DNA to the point that would make your heads turn, as it would be able to trace you where you go. Same with the facial recognition improvements. One of the reason I tell people to just remember, between video, facial recognition, and DNA, if you commit the crime, go ahead and plead guilty or work out a plea deal. These are part of the AI realm, it takes Artificial Intelligence to adapt to and expand.
When we look at programs such as Siri or Alexis, we are looking at AI. The systems are taught to respond to voices (don’t get me started on the fact that these systems are inactive, waiting for you to say the name). AI isn’t just using a human’s voice or giving people ideas. It is developing in so many aspects. Look at how many of us are on the internet on a regular basis. The computer programs are evolving. Spell check, having to read a loud, and even it making suggestions based on your previous likes. This comes from systems which have been programmed to adapt to people.
Currently, there are more ways of AI, some we probably don’t even think of. But people hear AI, they automatically through up hands to block, condemning it. There are some ways which can slow down certain areas, such as the use of AI generated voice or written. Before he died, the late great James Earl Jones worked with Disney to preserve digital copies of his voice, so that his amazing voice could be used in the future for Star Wars movies/shows. I have gotten blowback for my decision over a year ago when I went with the virtual voice narrating for my books. For 12 years, I tried to get a human to narrate for my books. There were 4 people who said they would do them. Then they had something come up and couldn’t do it or they decided they wanted full payment rather than the share program. I couldn’t afford to pay someone thousands of dollars to have each of my 40+ books, yet have wanted to hear them. Since then, I became friends with some wonderful narrators and my newest book is being narrated by Benjamin Fife. I am looking forward to seeing (or I should say hearing) what he does with The Wickham Murders. I don’t want to have a computer telling me what to write in the stories I write. So far, I don’t think there is a computer out there which is made to match my goofy mindset.
It will be interesting to see what the coming years will have in store for us. Some areas will be slow and subtle, while others will be a freight train barreling towards us which will run us over if we are not careful. In my lifetime I remember when we had black and white TV, then when we got our first color TV (and can remember having to go outside to adjust the antenna for reception to allow us to watch a show). When I was young, we received a pong game as a family Christmas gift.
It was one of first video games. I can remember when I got our first computer for home and the limitations it had. I can remember when all our phones were corded (push button was such a relief after using the rotary dial), then they became wireless.
When we had the “brick” cellphones compared to the phones we have now. It took a lot for me to go with an android phone, now I can’t remember how it was to not have the capability. And I can remember my first non stick shift vehicle. That is another area which has more and more AI in it. All the abilities that vehicles can do, from hands free calling to it calling for assistance when you have been in an accident.
Thank you for reading my ramblings. Have a good day and enjoy whatever level you accept in the AI world.
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