This week in AI I had my first experience forgetting that I was interacting with AI. Sure, searching Google Photos for abstract terms or typing requests into to an LLM to refine data can make you forget what’s going on behind the scenes. But these interactions are still tool based. Transactional.
On Thursday, leaving my neighborhood on my bike, I pulled up to a stop sign that can be a bit dodgy. The cross street is residential and has speed bumps, but Austin drivers will bomb down it pretty fast, straddling the bumps. I’m used to double-checking the cross-traffic.
I saw a car coming from my left, and paused, balancing, to let it pass. The car’s right-hand turn signal came on, communicating that they intended to pull into my street. Austin drivers seem especially challenged when it comes to turn signals, so I was appreciative. They slowed, too, which gave me the confidence to pull out in front of them and turn left. I gave the ol’ happy cyclist thumbs up to the driver only realizing, as we passed each other, that it was a Waymo car with no one in the front seats. It was one of those small, city-dweller interactions that happen all the time. But I’d had it with a robot powered by AI. Now if they could only do the dishes.