Six-time Emmy winner and bestselling author David Pogue attracted an engaged audience at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center on March 15th. The five-time TED speaker broke down AI’s rapid evolution with humor and insight, making a complex topic accessible to all. Despite the complexity, the mostly adult and senior audience remained captivated, with only 40% having previously used AI.
What can AI really do? Well, Pogue opened up by discussing AI’s versatility. From scheduling haircuts, to making artwork resembling Picasso, to emulating a therapist, AI has made significant progress in imitating human emotions. Pogue explained the advancements are so impressive that AI services have had to add a line stating, “Hi I’m an AI system calling for …” to distinguish AI from true human interactions. ChatGPT recently introduced an audio feature, enabling live conversations and “FaceTime” calls with its camera and emotionally intelligent voice. Pogue demonstrated these advancements in a live demo for the audience.
Pogue then transitioned to AI’s limitations, like having hands with extra fingers in AI-generated photos. AI also sparks debates on free speech and ownership, as U.S. law has no AI regulations. Pogue explained that due to this, singers and Getty Images are suing over unauthorized use of songs and images, and courts are siding against AI. In education, AI tools like ChatGPT make tasks like essay writing feel less relevant, prompting schools to adapt with handwriting assignments or AI detection tools. Additionally, AI’s rising energy demands challenge tech companies’ green goals.
Ultimately AI’s main issue is misinformation. Pogue discussed how if ChatGPT does not know an answer to a question, the AI will make up one so convincing that humans can’t tell whether it’s real or fake. In fact, this happened when Google first introduced its AI overview search, which summarizes the top few links providing one clear answer. Pogue exemplified hilarious mistakes that have resulted from this. For instance, Google AI service told humans that Dr. Granger, a made-up doctor, concluded that humans should eat one small rock per day! Another issue is that ChatGPT retains and repeats its own falsehoods, embedding mistakes into its learning process.
Despite so many concerns, Pogue ended on a positive note, highlighting AI’s benefits. In just two years, AI has transformed medicine. It outperforms top doctors, diagnosing and predicting diseases (from healthy scans) with 92% and 80% accuracies, respectively. AI’s biggest breakthrough? Mapping 200 million protein structures in hours, an ability that took years and billions of dollars to achieve just 0.085% of proteins. As many diseases stem from misfolded proteins, this was a huge step forward towards developing new cures. Also, Pogue emphasized that AI only thrives through human collaboration. Self-driving cars, for example, struggled until human decision-making was integrated, highlighting AI dependency on humans.
Pogue closed by highlighting that every major invention has sparked societal panic–elevators were once feared for making organs rise and telephones were dubbed “instruments of the devil.” History shows that technological fears fade as innovations become everyday tools. Just as calculators didn’t erase math skills, AI won’t eliminate writing skills; it simply shifts the focus from manual effort to higher-level thinking.
David Pogue truly made his mark in Chappaqua, receiving an enthusiastic round of applause. One guest found his talk very insightful, “As a teenager, I thought I knew everything about AI and its uses, but I surprisingly learned a lot of new information,” said a junior at local high school, Horace Greeley. Another guest shared, “David made AI so simple that even I could explain it afterward without feeling overwhelmed.”
As he closed his presentation, Pogue left us with the mentally-taxing question, “Where will humanity stand with AI in 15 years?” We’re still in the early stages making it impossible to predict whether we’ll experience technological success or failure. The best we can do is stay informed.
