AI Is On The Way!

Ill drop you an email. Im curious to see how it works for those of us that like to write. For me, the strokes of the keyboard, transferring a concept that I have from my minds eye into a picture that everyone can see is a cathartic process. Its very creative and is on the same level as playing music or painting for me. While I have the tools to express myself in various mediums, meaning the technical ability to read and write music, the technical skills to know and use color theory and composition (although im colorblind), my creative endeavors are usually very instinctual, very intuitive. The hunch, the instincts, the randomness and emotions that we humans have, particularly artists and musicians, poets, writers and such is not something that AI can get.

Along that rabbit hole, and where it would be useful to have an AI assistant in finding lost content on the web, is that I read in going down a different rabbit hole, on our crash mitigation systems, that it was an effort by the Bendix Wingman corp to replicate the human instinct to brake or avoid possible collisions, the engineers concluded only that there was a certain randomness in the response to assumed potential threats in forward collisions. The results of their programing (a primitive form of AI), we all suffer from. It was an attempt to replicate human instincts with an algorithm that uses random responses, that is why our trucks ghost brake for seemingly unknown causes. It came out in a court case against Honda. Ive not been able to locate it again since. Fascinating stuff.

Im curious as to weather or not the AI will phrase questions and responses as I want it to. I generally have a very concrete picture of what I want to convey, and once my fingers hit the keyboard, it just flows out. The exception being perhaps some of the mundane questions. We get a tremendous amount of questions about drug use, pot, the repercussions of it, etc. I do think it could be of great benefit there. I usually refrain from answering those questions because of my own experience in the recovery community and my own views on it make it difficult for me to answer without judgement or bias.

I've been pondering this for a couple days now. I like the idea of AI scouring the web, doing the necessary research to return positive, accurate results that would otherwise be lost or forgotten. It's use can be far-reaching and beneficial. I get that. For the most part, I agree that AI, and it's integration into our lives is inevitable. Adapt or die, as they say.

*Donning my tinfoil hat...

The problem I have is with this:

One thing I'm doing is using AI to convert the user's question into a more advanced and detailed question (or series of questions) that will produce better results.

What attracted me to this website from the start was the genuineness and authenticity of the users. Good or bad, we knew who we were dealing with. It was real. Unless I'm misinterpreting this, now you're talking about doing away with, or at least altering the human element, with it's own set of unique characteristics, and replacing it with your own (or AI's own) Utopian version of how information should be shared. In this setting, AI that is used to help "produce better results" will only serve to increase our reliance upon it, I'm afraid.

The implementation of AI into these very real questions and conversations is perhaps less of a commentary on the effectiveness of AI, and more of a lament of the collective lack of critical thinking in our society today. Just do what the Telescreen tells you to do.

Call me old fashioned, but I'm not a fan of altering or editing questions to better tailor a response that fits a narrative. I like talking to real people, and I still believe in individuality. The instant I think I'm talking to a robot directing me to a canned message, I'm out.

On that, I guess I would just have to see how it played out. I'll be happy to join the sample pool. Hopefully, my concerns will be unwarranted.

Davy and Turtle, I'm thrilled you guys voiced your concerns, and I really want to hear more concerns from everyone else. I realize AI terrifies many people, but I may not guess properly as to the concerns many of you have because I'm a tech guy, and this stuff is my life. For those of you less involved in this kind of thing, I want to answer any questions or concerns you have so you can understand what AI is all about, and more specifically, how I'm implementing it and what goals I have in mind.

Do not hesitate to ask, please!

Davy and Turtle have a common concern.

Davy:

Im curious as to whether or not the AI will phrase questions and responses as I want it to

Turtle:

Call me old fashioned, but I'm not a fan of altering or editing questions to better tailor a response that fits a narrative

Let's start with a quick overview of how this chat system works. You ask a question, and I instruct AI to improve the question. I then use the improved question to find relevant content from our website. I give the question and the relevant content to AI and tell it to answer the question only based on the content I've provided and nothing else. So it's:

question -> get improved question -> get relevant content -> feed content and question to AI -> AI answers question using content

Why am I "improving" the question? Because the search we perform looks for content related to the question. If the question is real simple like:

Does trucking pay well?

That's only four words to use and only one question. It will give you decent results, but the goal here is to let AI help us think things through. I took the above question and here is the improved version AI produced this time:

What are the average salaries for truck drivers and what factors contribute to higher pay in the trucking industry? Can you provide details about the earning potential for truck drivers and the different opportunities for increasing income in this career? What are some strategies for maximizing earnings as a truck driver, and can you explain the potential for financial success in this profession?

That improved version is what I use to do the search. It gives many more relevant pieces of content from our website and prompts AI to give a more in-depth answer. In fact, here is the relevant part of the actual instructions I'm giving to AI about improving the question:

I am presenting a question or a topic of interest from someone who is interested in a career as a truck driver. This person is talking with an AI chatbot and the person doesn't understand how to phrase the question in such a way that it produces good results from a similarity vector search.

Your job is to improve their question so that it produces good results from a similarity vector search. If they simply present a topic of interest, your job is to turn that topic of interest into a question that produces good results from a similarity vector search. For example, the question may simply be the name of a company like "Prime Transportation" or it may be a topic of interest like "trucking school". Your job is to turn that into a question that produces good results from a similarity vector search.

The question should take the person's interest into consideration. When developing an improved question, you should ask yourself questions like, "What would this person want to know about this topic if they're interested in becoming a truck driver? How would this person's question or statement be relevant to starting a career as a truck driver? What might this person ask if they understood the trucking industry and could ask more specific questions?"

Again, your job is to assist this person in improving their question so that it produces good results from a similarity vector search when searching over advice and facts about starting a career as a truck driver and being successful on the road.

AI understands what a vector search is so it knows how to rephrase the question in a way that doesn't change the fundamental question but produces more relevant search results. Google does the same thing, you just don't know it. I'm giving you the insider's view to how this stuff works.

Let me start another reply to discuss more insights.

What attracted me to this website from the start was the genuineness and authenticity of the users. Good or bad, we knew who we were dealing with. It was real. Unless I'm misinterpreting this, now you're talking about doing away with, or at least altering the human element, with it's own set of unique characteristics, and replacing it with your own (or AI's own) Utopian version of how information should be shared. In this setting, AI that is used to help "produce better results" will only serve to increase our reliance upon it, I'm afraid.

Regarding the genuineness and authenticity of our website, I want to keep that element, which is why I'm instructing AI to answer the questions solely based on the provided content from our website. I want to make sure the advice is our advice, not the advice of a general AI system trained on everything, including poor advice!

So, in our case, AI is only assembling our existing information into a thorough, well-structured, and easy-to-digest response. AI isn't giving us its advice and opinions. It's taking our advice and opinions and converting it into a well-crafted response.

On a funny note, I'm working on the personality and style of the responses. I'm trying to get AI to respond as if it's an old trucker from rural America. It's sort of doing it a little, but I'll be working more on the style and "personality" it uses to present the information so you feel like the answers are coming from an old trucker.

Turtle:

In this setting, AI that is used to help "produce better results" will only serve to increase our reliance upon it, I'm afraid

I'm afraid you're right, and there's no going back from here. The same way we all rely on our cell phones and the Internet, in the future, you will be a dinosaur who is completely out-of-touch and unable to compete in modern society if you're not using AI. Fortunately, we can use AI so easily that using it won't be a problem. You won't have to learn how to use AI, it will learn how to help you. I know that sounds insane, but you'll see what I mean in a few months when my development gets more advanced.

The implementation of AI into these very real questions and conversations is perhaps less of a commentary on the effectiveness of AI, and more of a lament of the collective lack of critical thinking in our society today. Just do what the Telescreen tells you to do.

I think the past few years showed us that the ability to use critical thinking in our society is desperately low. Or as AI just rephrased that:

Critical thinking isn't optional. It's the fire alarm of a functioning democracy, and right now, the sirens are deafening.

At least AI knows that! It's true, critical thinking seems to be at an all-time low in our society. If used properly, AI can enhance our ability for critical thinking, because it always poses the pros and cons and deeper insights related to any topic of conversation. It helps us analyze things from multiple perspectives and consider things we may have missed.

Call me old fashioned, but I'm not a fan of altering or editing questions to better tailor a response that fits a narrative. I like talking to real people, and I still believe in individuality. The instant I think I'm talking to a robot directing me to a canned message, I'm out.

I agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying here, and hopefully I've explained what I'm doing in such a way that you can see I'm not manipulating people with an agenda or producing canned responses. I'm simply taking the information that we've produced here on TT and asking AI to convey it to us in a way that is easy to digest. So talking to our AI will be like talking with our moderators.

Now if I can get this thing to talk in Old School's Texas drawl to Southerners or my sharp New York accent to Northerners, that would be great!

Actually, I can.

I just received an email from a long-time member who we all love, and he's asked me to delete his account because he's afraid of AI and doesn't want anything to do with it.

I'm hoping to talk him out of it by helping him understand what we're doing, and why it's nothing to fear. It's just basically an assistant is all.

But I completely understand everyone's concerns and I want to hear more of them!

Understand, also, that I'm not trying to eliminate our discussions here in the forum. I think AI will enhance these discussions because after chatting with AI for a while there will be several things people will want to discuss with us. So I'm hoping AI will be like a guide to get people started, and then they'll come here to the forum for direct interaction with us.

So please, everyone, give me your questions and concerns. Don't hold back. I'm very happy to explain anything you'd like to know about what I'm doing.

Brett,

Thanks for addressing my email I sent you this morning. Like I said to you I am very old world and not much for a lot of modern things like AI, electronic logs , auto trans. and computers to do a job that I did successfully for 44 years and 3 million miles. I have met a few members from TT and I can attest to their professional attitudes and great personalities. Let's just say I'll see how it goes but I'm very cautious. That's just me.

Let's just say I'll see how it goes but I'm very cautious. That's just me.

Cautious, as you should be. I'm the same way. I don't trust anyone or anything until I believe it's been earned. I wouldn't expect trust from our community with something like this until I've proven it to be trustworthy. All I ask for is a chance, and I very much appreciate the opportunity to prove what I can do with this thing.

I'm going to send you the link to it so you can play with it. I'll send it to Turtle and Davy as well.

Using the AI function I asked a question we frequently get here in the forum. Keep in mind the formatting is off due to copy/paste but on my end looks well laid out.

You: What companies do hair follicle testing?

AI: Understanding Hair Follicle Testing in Trucking Companies Hey there, friend! So, you're interested in starting a career as a truck driver and you've heard about hair follicle testing. Let me break it down for you.

Trucking Companies Requiring Hair Follicle Testing Swift Transportation J.B. Hunt Schneider National Roehl Transport Prime Inc. Implications for Potential Drivers When trucking companies conduct hair follicle testing, it means they're looking for traces of drugs in your system over a longer period compared to standard urine tests. This requirement is aimed at ensuring the safety of the drivers and the public on the road.

Challenges and Benefits Challenges:

Longer detection period may reveal past drug use even if you're currently clean. If you have a history of drug use, it may limit your options for employment. Benefits: Enhanced safety on the road for everyone. It may deter individuals with a history of drug use from applying, creating a safer work environment. Navigating the Hiring Process If you're looking to start a career as a truck driver and are concerned about hair follicle testing, the key is to stay clean and make wise choices. Keep in mind that different companies have different policies, so it's important to do your research and choose a company that aligns with your values and lifestyle.

Remember, the trucking industry offers great opportunities for a stable and rewarding career. Stay focused, stay safe, and you'll be on the road to success in no time!

It also includes the helpful links to The High Road and applying for paid training.

I'll continue playing with it a bit but so far I like how easy it is. There's many questions we get that are repetitive. Drug/alcohol questions definitely are in that group. Personally I find myself not jumping into those conversations because as an experienced driver, and one that's been on this forum for a while, it's just repeating the same information, same excuses and unfortunately we don't often get them to come back and keep us updated on their journey. The only thing that would be beneficial to the answer AI provided me would be somehow including that company policy can change at any time regarding test methods.

I also would prefer being able to interact with somebody whether in person or a forum to get differing opinions in general. However with the way our society has gone of needing help and wanting an answer NOW AI will definitely help with those types of people.

I absolutely see the need for something like this from a business perspective and staying relevant in this ever changing world BUT I worry it will limit the amount of new members participating in the forum to keep information updated that changes. For instance, I just asked what companies hire out of FL. Among the list was Prime but Kearsey recently mentioned they have a hold on hiring from there. The AI answer would have also been more helpful to explain how certain areas of the state are harder to be hired from, and perhaps WHY companies don't hire from that area. I'm not very tech savvy with all this so I'm unsure if you're able to help change the way some answers are.

Brett, It may just be a mobile issue (Samsung) but on the chat box initially it isn't very clear what you need to do after typing your question. I was looking for some type of submit button, couldn't find one so I used "go" from my keypad. With the speed issue you mentioned I was unsure if it had submitted or not.

Well, I'm far from being super tech savvy as Brett lol. I have been on computers before there was an internet. Had a 8086 ugly 14" green screen system, used 3, 5 1/4 floppy discs just to boot it up hahaha. I did build my own computer back in 2002 or so, probably why my eyes are needing glasses after so many hours/years looking at screens.

I have played with the Chat GPT a few times before, just to see how it works.. It produces better answers, the more detailed a question asked is, than 1 basic liners.

With this discussion, I had one of my old favorite songs come to mind: “He’s an old hippie and he don’t know what to do. Should he hang on to the old or grab on to the new?” Lol.

My hope for any new development like AI is that it makes INFORMATION easier and more specific. For instance, my main source of information about trucking comes from TT. Sometimes it’s in the form of opinions and viewpoints, but sometimes just in the form of cut and dried facts. What I’m seeing is that this AI thing could be a very useful information tool to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

For example, the first thing I would do with it would be to ask about how to better understand HOS rules, sleeper berth , and 14 hour clock start and stop rules. I think there is a lot of information about that scattered throughout the forum, but am I correct in thinking AI could bring it all together in a concise and understandable fashion?

AI to me is like a new tool. When I was a carpenter, I loved to get my hands on a new and innovative tool. This is the same way I view AI coming here. Bring it on!