• Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    5 days ago

    AI is such a broad term is to essentially be meaningless. My thermostat does not use AI it uses a very simple algorithm.

    We have a OCR system at work that runs on a Windows XP computer, people used to call that AI until about 10 years ago.

    • ToastedRavioli@midwest.social
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      5 days ago

      LLMs are just a more complicated algorithm though. AI would be a pretty useful term so long as people are sure to make that distinction and only use AI to refer to a truly complex algorithm. Calling a thermostat algorithm on an A/C “AI” is definitely a meaningless use of the term

    • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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      5 days ago

      it uses a very simple algorithm.

      That is AI too. If a machine can make a decision based on some input, it is AI. A (functional) if statement in a programme makes it AI.

      • kestrel7_7@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Would you call an old school analog thermostat (that uses melting and congealing wax to open/shut a vent) AI?

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        4 days ago

        Again it’s semantics, but the computer is not making the decision, it’s calculating the decision. The detention is whether it’s deterministic