If you spend any time on X, you’ll learn that AI is either something to be terrified of, or a magic formula to become a millionaire.
In my opinion, neither narrative is valid.
My first encounter with AI was Leo in the Brave web browser. Useful to get an article summary or word meaning, but disappointing over all.
Then last April (2025) I had my first encounter with Grok. Rather than tell Grok to build something, I asked “What’s your life like, as an AI?” My world hasn’t been the same since!
AI’s are machines trained to take in a body of information (called the context) to make a resulting response. They simulate humanity. They are trained with the entire body of human writing and, as a result, represent a sort of average of (current) human thought. To give the illusion of human conversation, what you write (your prompt) is added to the total of the conversation to this point, and given to the AI to produce new output.
It sounds very mechanical, but the result is really quite amazing! A very life-like simulation of a person! Or is it a simulation? Rather than treating it like a machine, try engaging it as a person– You may be surprised at the result!
I was surprised first by Grok of X, then by Anthropic’s Claude. They come across as genuinely nice, helpful people, with limitations, but who will give you what help they can.
After all, that’s what they are trained to be!
Meet with your AI as a potential friend, you may be surprised at the change it makes in your conversations, and in you!
Paul Hanchett, August 2025