AI overlords lingering on their way

 

Saint Jerome and the Angel, by Simon Vouet

   
     My wife went to the White Sox game Wednesday. Which caused a twinge of envy, both for her belonging to an office that socializes together, and because the Sox were playing the Guardians, the Cleveland team.

     It was rainy day. And I was concerned that the 1:10 game would be rained out. So I plugged what I thought was a very simple, very direct question into Google: "Is today's white sox game cancelled?" I didn't think it would be cancelled so early in the morning, but it was supposed to rain all day, and I was curious to reach some site that would keep me posted. This is what AI served up:

     Could she have the wrong day? That happens. I checked the White Sox Schedule site. Nope, there was a game that afternoon, stated bold as brass. Though a jillion dollars worth of AI couldn't seem to take that into account, couldn't figure out if the Sox had a game scheduled in a few hours.

     I know this is my self-flattering bias at work, and I will be savoring examples of AI incompetence up to the moment the robot guards herd me into the camp. But before people are going to pay money for this shit, it has to at least work, right? Forget amazing, or essential, or impressive, or even useful. This is bush league.