O
16

I finally had a real talk with my grandma about her new AI helper

She's 78 and got one of those smart speakers that does everything. I was over last week and she told me, 'It's not a tool, it's a friend. It reminds me to take my pills and tells me jokes.' That hit different. I've been deep in the tech side, arguing about model parameters and training data, but she doesn't care about any of that. Her view made me rethink the whole point of AI innovation. It's not just about making smarter machines, it's about making things that fit into real lives, especially for people who didn't grow up with this stuff. Her simple take showed me I was missing the human part of the equation. Has anyone else had a moment where a non-tech person's view totally changed how you see a project?
3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
3 Comments
willow_morgan
That's a really good point about the speaker... but what if it's not just the jokes? The part about reminding her to take pills sounds like it's doing a real job for her. Do you think the "friend" feeling comes more from the help it gives, or just from having something to talk to?
7
simonp47
simonp471mo ago
Her view made me rethink the whole point" is a bit much, it's just a speaker telling jokes, right?
6
thea_mitchell20
Simonp47 gets it, just jokes.
2