It worked. All is good. The Fed got inflation down to exactly 2% without damaging the economy.
In tandem, corporations and businesses lowered prices to help the cost of living go down. Not to be left out, home builders worked 24/7 and were able to build enough houses to satisfy demand. Russia surrendered and funding for Ukraine is no longer needed. China said who needs Taiwan anyway. The stock market exploded higher with the Dow hitting 50,000. And North Carolina State won the NCAA basketball championship (my pick). It all worked.
APRIL FOOL. Obviously writing this on April 1st.
Hold on. Pretty sure everyone knows that all the above is certainly not reality (except for NC State winning). But what if things like all that found its way into artificial intelligence programs? Since AI seeks out all related data, both historical and current, what would happen if there were a shortage of data? How would AI derive proper conclusions? Would artificial intelligence reach out to include unrealistic “planted” data?
Let’s say I want to have AI (like Copilot or ChatGPT) compose an article to be featured in a prominent widely held publication about investing over the past 15-16 years. The artificial intelligence search gathers data which reflects massive monetary stimulus (zero interest rates, QE whatever) and the COVID pandemic. Since neither has enough meaningful historical data to draw upon, would AI include conversations from TikTok or other digital social media platforms? Obviously some of that inclusion may indeed include things like in my (factually incorrect) intro above.
Would that AI article, when read, then be considered factual?
So while artificial intelligence may be the future, it may very well be that today’s environment may not be as ready. If there is not enough data to draw upon, anything AI may produce might itself be flawed. (Emma Tucker of the WSJ just mentioned the same issue of a shortage of data for AI to draw upon this morning in her 10 Points newsletter).
In that case, both AI, digital media and digital platforms may not be ready for reality – at least not yet.
Or, another way to look at it, everyday could be April Fool’s Day.
