AI has the answer

An AI query provided just what I had hoped and suspected. I typed in “who won the Alaska state match play tournament,” and it gave me this answer:

Jack Carr won the men’s division, Benjamin Sumulong won the senior men’s division and Keira DeLand won the women’s division.

It’s possible this information was out sooner, but it took me almost a week to get it. The information was not available anywhere I could find early during the work week. Nothing was printed at the local news sites or on the AGA website.

AI claims to have harvested the info from Facebook.

This is a revolutionary time, even if it is slow to work. Just the other day, my nephew said, “AI gives the right answers, but the internet does not.” Think about that one for a minute and then realize he is 10 and doesn’t even have a phone yet.

Having been a professional journalist and a social-media specialist at one time, I find this trend of how we get information fascinating. Anyone not subscribed to the appropriate page on Facebook would not have received the news when it was posted. Does this make someone wish they were on Facebook? No way.

This is the fundamental problem with social media. You must be a member of a cyber club that causes all kinds of distractions and problems in your life just to hopefully catch one or two pieces of useful information.

AI seems to have solved this problem. We no longer need to subscribe to newspapers or social media. We just ask our phones and we are informed.

So, what does this mean for people who distribute information? What does it mean for me and my desire to document Alaskan golf? I’m not exactly sure of the answer yet, but I hope to figure it out in time for the State Am at the end of July. I’d like to provide some fun, insightful documentation without use of social media or a newspaper. I’ll have to make sure I provide something AI cannot.

I guess that means I will have to go well beyond the basic reporting and go deeper. I must provide something only I can and then see if anyone is interested in it.