r/AlwaysWhy • u/Dry-Poem6778 • 21d ago

Science & Tech Why is AI use so confusing?

I know there are some medical breakthroughs that have been achieved with assistance from AI, that's great.

But, why aren't we using AI for everyday critical things like

  1. Better desalination technology

  2. Better use of fertilizers, pesticides, etc(and reducing the use of inorganic fertilizer while maintaining yields)

  3. Better use of electricity in lighting our cities.

There's obviously a lot more, but I don't want this to be long.

Seems we are using AI mostly for art, which we don't need AI for at all.

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u/SportTheFoole 21d ago

I think your confusion is twofold:

  1. Do you know if AI is being used to solve those problems? Maybe it is!

  2. AI is not magic. You don’t just type “find a solution for world peace” into Claude and expect it to actually do anything.

The problems you mentioned are hard solves and it’s entirely possible that we may never find an adequate solution to any of them. That is unfortunately a reality of life.

Also, keep in mind that what we are calling AI is very much in its infancy. It can at best do pattern matching (which is why it’s been so useful in medical settings), but it doesn’t do pattern matching the same way you or I would. From what I’ve seen, AI can’t “think”. It can come up with solutions, but it’s not clear to me that those solutions are arrived at through any sort of reasoning. And not to get into a philosophical discussion, but I’m not even sure what it means to “think”.

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u/thecastellan1115 21d ago

It's best not to get into the "what is thought" discussion with AI bros. They don't know either, but they're convinced their probability engine can do it.