the case of the skyscraper and the slide trombone
the case of the skyscraper and the slide trombone
Publish Date: 2026-02-08 12:22:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now part of our everyday life. It is perceived as “intelligence” and yet relies fundamentally on statistics. Its results are based on previously learned patterns in data. As soon as we move away from the subject matter it has learned, we’re faced with the fact that there isn’t much that is intelligent about it. A simple question, such as “Draw me a skyscraper and a sliding trombone side-by-side so that I can appreciate their respective sizes” will give you something like this (this image has been generated by Gemini):
AI-generated images, in response to the prompt: ‘Draw me a skyscraper and a sliding trombone side-by-side so that I can appreciate their respective sizes’ (left by ChatGPT, right by Gemini).
This example was generated by Google’s model, Gemini, but generative AI dates back to the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 and is in fact only three years old. The technology has changed the world and is unprecedented in its adoption rate. Currently, 800 million users rely on ChatGPT every week to complete various tasks, according to OpenAI. Note that the number of requests tanks during the school holidays. Even though it’s hard to get hold of precise figures, this goes to show how widespread AI usage has become. Around one in two students regularly uses AI.
AI: essential technology or a gimmick?
Three years is both long and short. It’s long in a field where technology is constantly changing, and short when it comes to social impacts. And while we’re only just starting to understand how to use AI, its place in society has yet to be defined – just as AI’s image in popular culture has yet to be established. We’re still wavering between extreme positions: AI is going to outsmart human beings or, on the contrary, it’s merely a useless piece of shiny technology.
Indeed, a new call to pause AI-related research…
