FridAI - AI Guardrails

Business brain, episode 681 for Casual Friday, I, September 5th. Bring your manners to work day 2025. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show. We take some ideas, some of yours, some of ours, crunch them together, use them to tune our collective and individual business brains so that we can each keep on living those charmed lives. Our sponsors for this episode include Masterclass.com BusinessBrain, where you can get an additional 15% off any annual plan, and BitDefender.com Brain, where you can save 30% on BitDefender Ultimate Small Business Security. We will talk more about what each of those means in a little bit here. For now, here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

And in Lafayette, California, I'm Shannon Jean. Happy Friday.

Happy Friday. I, my friend, I have a thing. You have a thing, and listener Andy has a thing. So we should get to the things. Which one do you want to do first?

Yeah, I want to talk about the cpusage. That's pretty interesting that, like, we had an issue in the previous show a couple days ago where I was delayed. I couldn't figure it out. My video was chopped. The sound wasn't right.

Yeah.

And. And like, wow. It's not, you know, what's going on? I looked over and I was using a. I use a piece. An AI app called Opus Clip.

Okay.

That helps make. Take video clips of anything that you've created. Opus does. You could take this podcast or any YouTube video.

That's what Sadie uses to one of the tools she uses to chop up this show. Yeah.

Yeah, it's terrific. And they just came out with a new agent, and I was using their beta. I was on the waiting list, and I was using that, and it just basically turned, you know, my computer slowed to a crawl.

Yes, it did.

So I asked it, because I asked the agent, I said, how long is this going to take? And it didn't even answer me. So I was like, we got to kill that. And what.

What is this? An AI video agent that turns your ideas into. Oh, I see. In any.

Anything. So you can just. You can take an article like you wrote or somebody else wrote, and you could say, okay, there I was trying to get an article in New Scientists that I was learning about ways to kind of work with your brain during the day to keep focused. And I asked it to create a short clip and, you know, that I could turn into a social media post. I just wanted to see if it could do it. Uh, I didn't get all the way through it before my podcast co host made me quit because it was taking over my computer.

Okay. Okay. So it does the work locally. I see.

It must. Right, Clearly. Yeah, yeah, clearly. Where it. You know, and it did come up. It asked me some questions along the way. I gave it a prompt and yeah, there's a good FAQ that shows you all the differences in the prompt, which actually was very helpful just in general.

Yeah.

But yeah, so I'll report back after I. And I was doing it in Safari and sometimes that might be an issue, you know, because don't like Safari. A lot of these services even like what we're recording on right now, streamyard, they want us to use Chrome. Yep. And a lot of them are like that.

Well, the, the Chrome thing is because Safari doesn't fully support WebRTC for video and like for video conferencing.

Maybe that's so who knows?

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah.

But that's not the topic I want to talk about.

Okay.

You know, we, you might have read in the news, there's been some things have come up where people have had some problems with AI.

Yeah.

And in, in cases, in most of the cases that I've been reading about, it seems like the more you give your AI your personal details.

Okay.

The more, the more problematic it could be. And so I thought we would chat a little bit about the risk of telling AI your personal information.

All right. So are we talking about the risk of that information leaking to other humans and sources or are we talking about the risk of AI? I don't want to say using that information against you, but using that information in a way that is uncomfortable or unhealthy to you.

Unhealthy?

Yeah.

You know, we've talked about this before where it's, I don't know if it's the right word for it, but it's, you know, most AI is very much. They're sycophants. Right. They're going to tell you that everything you do is great.

Yes.

And that, that, whoa, that's a great idea. Let's expand on that. You know, that kind of thing. And I think that if you are someone that maybe has, I don't know, it's not always mental health issues, but maybe you're feeling isolated and you are leaning on some AI chat bot to help lift you up, I think it can be very positive. And I think the vast majority of interactions are. Are very positive for sure. But like most things in life, there's always going to be a small, even minuscule Percentage. And now with the way the world works in the news, we hear about those instantly. And I just think it's tough. And I think, especially for young people, if you're in your formative years, under 18, you know, a teen, a teenager that I, I don't think talking to AI and having an AI girlfriend or an AI therapist, I don't think that's a good idea.

Yeah, I, well, having an AI significant other, an AI partner in that way, I can't envision where that would be a good thing right now or ever. However, the idea of using AI to help process one's thoughts, I don't think it's. I don't think it's a binary thing, whether it's good or bad.

No, it's not binary. It's definitely not binary.

This conversation is going to go a different direction, but I'm going to get on a soapbox a little bit. When I was a kid, high school age, there was a girl who was killed, murdered in our town. And it was awful. We knew the family. I went to school with her older siblings, and it was terrible. Everybody in town knew about it, and everybody in the town next to ours knew about it. But you don't know about it.

Yeah.

And no one, no one three towns away knew about it either. Right. Like, until. Unless I told them about it, I was like, oh, well, we have this thing and they're like, what are you talking about? And, yeah, and, you know, that's the way information spread. And I don't want to be a get off of my lawn kind of person and say everything was better back then, but this part of things was more natural back then. The world that we live in today, where information and I mean, I love, I. My whole career is based on the ability for information to transmit everywhere, instantly. So there are good things about it. But when it comes to news and especially terrible things that have happened, that's what gets eyeballs or earballs or, you know, that's the clickbait stuff. That's the thing that attracts the majority of humanity. And it's easy to think when you hear about two or three cases of something that happened. It's like, oh, my God, we have, you know, it's, it's, it, it's, it's. It's an epidemic. Right. Whatever term we're supposed to use. So I, like, I, I try not to overreact to that.

Yeah, I think that's a good point.

And I think it's just worth bearing in mind.

Yeah, yeah, it is. And I think I've spoken about it on the show before, is not to make decisions based on anecdotal things or, you know, is that problem truly systemic?

Right, yes.

Or is it just a one of or a two of or this thing?

I mean, what's great about the Internet is I can be a nerd about something very, very niche. And let's say there's only a thousand people in the world who are nerdy about this thing. Previously, when I was a kid, I was in. I was ostracized for it, even. Right. But now I can go find those other 999 people and be in a community with them. It doesn't matter. So that's kind of awesome. And. And, you know, I think there is. There is a world where AI can be helpful with processing one's thoughts, but.

And even for loneliness, I think it could be helpful, right?

Yes.

In the sense that temporarily, I would say there. Well, there are people, I would argue millions of people probably, that are lonely and leave the TV on to have the noise in the background. You know what I mean? That's a normal thing.

I mean, yeah, a lot of people do that. They get to a hotel room, they turn on the TV so they don't feel.

Or at night. Or at night when they're going to sleep and they don't want to hear those noise. I could tell you we talked about my mom, who's 97 and a half. She leaves the TV on at night, you know, just down low enough to where she hears murmuring and voices instead of creeping and creeks in the walls.

We hear it from people that listen to this show and the other shows that I do. They put them on while they go to sleep. And it keeps. It keeps that loneliness from setting in.

Sure.

And so you're right.

I think there are some benefits.

But we have been using technology to stave off loneliness for a long time. Yeah, that's true.

But I think especially for young people now, ChatGPT is rolling out parental controls here in the next couple of weeks. I read about that this morning, which I think is. Is.

Oh, I think that's fine.

I think it's normal that just like you wouldn't hand your kid. I mean, when I was growing up as a little kid, my parents wouldn't let me have a TV in my bedroom because they were like, no, we're not. We want to be in charge. We need to see what you're watching. Yes, well, it's the same as you're not going to hand your 12 year old a phone and just let him go to town. Hopefully not. Yeah. Or a computer or whatever. So same thing with this. I think with some guardrails, it, it's a massively positive force.

Agreed.

We just have to have a few of those guardrails and to be aware of it, you know that. So just thought it interesting.

Yeah, I know.

I agree with you. Talk about.

I agree. Yeah, yeah, it's a good discussion to have. This is this.

I'm not, it's not that I'm right or wrong.

No.

It's just something that we. I'm curious about. I'm. Yeah, I cannot wait to have, you know, humanoid robots working around my house and like, I am ready when the, when it will do it and it's 20 grand. I'll be the one of the first in line because there's so much work that I need done that if I could teach a humanoid to paint my house, fix the deck, plant plants, build a retaining wall, my old age is going to be amazing because I'm going to have one or more, I would imagine more of these helpers that I'm going to be like, yeah, go ahead, build this, do that. Here's the specs, look it up. Figure out how to structural engineer this thing and make it. I cannot wait for that.

Dude, I have a question for everybody. You. You threw out a random number and that's, it's not that random, you know, but the idea that for 20 grand, would you, would you would buy this without thinking about it? I, I initially I thought, yeah, 20 grand is the number. And then I started thinking, well, we're actually about to have our deck rebuilt. That's going to cost way more than 20 grand. We're about to have this bill. It's going to cost way more grand. Like, I think for me, the, the number would be if it's below 50, I'd. I jump on it.

And, and it's not like you'd even have to write a check. It'll be like buying a car. You just be like, oh, monthly payment is 800 bucks or whatever. Yeah, it'll be another thing.

Yeah, I want to know. I've, I want to know from everybody else. Well, go ahead. Well, I want to know from everybody else what your number is. Feedback at BusinessBrain show because that, I'm curious what the number is. If it could just be your. An AI handyman. Let's call it that. Right? Like, what's, what's the number?

I cannot wait.

Yeah, same. All right, we have to wait though. So in the meantime, we're going to do a couple other things. We have some comments from you, a quick tip about AI from me, and the next thing we're going to do is talk about our sponsors. Because you know that feeling when you're scrolling on your phone and an hour disappears and you've got gained nothing? Well, you can swap that habit for something that actually makes us all better. Masterclass. Shannon and I have been checking it out, and with Masterclass, you learn from the best to become your best. I've been digging into Daniel Pink's class on sales and persuasion because let's face it, we entrepreneurs are always selling ideas, products, even convincing ourselves to keep grinding. His lessons can give us the tools we need and put them into practice immediately. And then, then there's the art of intelligence with former CIA officers. Let's just say their strategies for reading people and managing high stakes negotiations. Yeah, they translate surprisingly well into business, folks. Plus, if I ever need to run a meeting and escape an embassy undetected, you know, maybe I'm covered. With plans Starting at just $10 a month, billed annually, you get unlimited access to over 200 classes across business, leadership, creativity, and more. And three out of four members say they leave every class feeling inspired. That's how we live our charmed lives, folks. Right now, our listeners get an additional 15% off any annual membership@masterclass.com businessbrain. That's 15% off@masterclass.com businessbrain masterclass.com businessbrain and our sincere thanks to Masterclass for sponsoring this episode. And this episode is also brought to you by Bitdefender, our sponsor and a global leader in cybersecurity. Look, cyber threats aren't just hitting big corporations anymore. Small businesses are prime targets and most of us aren't prepared. I used to think we're small, we're under the radar, right? But one scam email like I got, we told you about that, or a data breach could wreck your business. So you've got to be protected. The Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security is designed specifically for small businesses. You can install it in minutes, add your team and you're good to go. You get scam and phishing protection, unlimited vpn, password manager, data breach alerts. All the tools you'd normally have to piece together separately are now all in one package. You even get real time notifications if something suspicious is flagged, which, honestly, that would give me more peace of mind that I didn't know I needed. Right? And the Best part, you don't need to be a tech person. You can be and still use it. Obviously, it takes all that load off, but you don't have to be. Keep your small business safe with Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business security. And save 30% when you go to bitdefender.com brain that's bitdefender.com brain for 30% off. And our sincere thanks to Bitdefender for sponsoring this episode. All right, we got a note from listener Andy here talking about AI, And Andy says this is more of a philosophical thought. Well, that's pretty probably good for this episode where we've gone so far, says. But I've been thinking about AI a lot. Where is it useful and not useful? Ethical issues surrounding it, training environment, et cetera. And also how it trains us as users just by our interactions with. The more I think about it, the more I hate that we call it artificial intelligence. I think what it really is is si, simulated intelligence. It's not intelligent in the way that humans or other animals are, but particularly large language models are intended to simulate that type of intelligence. I suspect the more we remember that it is a simulation, the more likely we are to treat it as what it is, a tool. A tool that can be very powerful. But I don't care if you have the most powerful welder on Earth, it's the wrong tool to tighten the screw on a pair of glasses. So I'd like to think more people think. I'd love to think that more people think and talk more critically about what we use these tools for and if they're really the best tools for the job. And thanks for thinking about it, Andy. Well, thanks for writing in, Andy.

Yeah, that's cool. That's a really good point. Since I do believe we are living in a simulation, I think that that simulated intelligence makes a lot of sense. I would agree.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think that's a really interesting breakdown of the way it works. And I like it.

Yeah, it's great. I like the idea of framing it that way in our. In our heads. Like, we routinely on this show talk about how it's a great assistant. Yes. And, you know, for all the reasons that we've said it, you know, you need. It needs oversight. It needs.

Oh, it's terrible at so much stuff.

Yes.

I constantly, you know, be like, what? And of course, it's a. It's amazing what it can do. Right. No doubt about it. And. And I've just become, of course, more. My expectations have increased over time.

Yeah.

As I expect it to get better and better and better, but sometimes it just gets in these loops, you know, I call them stupid loops, where I'm just like, all right, I just got to start over, because it's just getting worse and worse and worse. But, yeah, that's really cool. Good insight.

Yeah. So my quick tip is it comes from our travels this past summer.

Okay.

And one of the things we like to do when we visit a city, if we don't have. I mean, sometimes you have all your time scheduled, and that's how it goes, but other times, you get some downtime. And one of the ways our family likes to enjoy a city and experience a city is by doing a food tour. You know, because you get to. You get to learn about the different types of food.

Local. Local food that's available. Not just the good food in general. But, hey, what's special about this area type thing.

Yes, yes, exactly. And we had gone to Philadelphia. We've been in Philadelphia a couple of times and always enjoyed it, and we found some good food there. In general, if you like mussels, go to Monks. It doesn't seem like much, but trust me on this. And I'll put a link in the show notes to Monks. In fact, we often try to stay near Monks so that we can go there often as many times during our trip. Yeah, exactly. But there's the last time we were in Philadelphia, we did a food tour, and it was terrible. We just had a bad tour guide. It was just like, it happens, right? Yeah.

Worst cheesesteak in my life in Philadelphia. Just so.

Yes.

Because I made that bad decision. Oh. Everybody said, this is a place. I was like, no, my cheesesteak shop around my house in California is way better.

Way better. Well, yeah. Yeah. So we. Yeah, our food. We. We actually. It was the most ridiculous thing. It still doesn't make sense to me. We went and bought the cheesesteaks from, like, the place. And this was after walking for, like, 30 minutes. So everybody, you show up hungry, and now you're hungrier.

Yeah.

And we bought the cheese steaks. There were maybe, let's say, eight of us on the tour. So he buys, you know, eight cheesesteaks or whatever, and he's carrying them around. He's like, all right, we're gonna go to the next place so we can get milkshakes. And it's like, dude, wait, can we eat the cheesesteaks now?

Yes.

Right. And so by the time we ate them, they weren't hot anywhere, which I don't even know if Cheesesteaks were good because they were kind of cool and, you know, it wasn't great.

Yeah, you can't really judge it.

No, but I could judge the tour guide. That was while we were waiting. While we were waiting for the milkshakes, which also took forever. My wife went into a donut shop that was just kind of there and bought some donuts to eat. So weekends we weren't starving. Yeah.

Yeah.

But, you know, it's fine. It makes for a good story. So this. This summer, we were in. In Philly and. And we were like, oh, we should do another food tour or whatever. I was like, well, okay. But, you know, now we're a little gun shy. And so she went on chat GPT and. And we hit. We didn't. Like a lot of times, we'll have. We'll have time to plan in advance. And I love planning things in advance because it's. It extends the trip. Right. You're thinking about it before you get there. We didn't have time to do that. This was while I was, like, traveling and suffering from Lyme disease and all. Like, it was. It was. You know, we were lucky to make it to Philly.

Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, and I was. It took me. It took me almost eight hours to get from Chicago to Philadelphia on an airplane. We drove around at o' Hare in the airplane for six of those hours.

Oh, my.

Like, I should have been in freaking Scotland by the time I got off that plane. Plane. But anyway, we made it to Philly. We're like, it's late at night or whatever. And we're like, what. What are we going to do tomorrow? Okay, well, it's. A food tour would be interesting. Lisa got on chat GPT and chat GBT was like, just book your own food tour. Here's all the places to go. Oh, okay. And then it asked us questions like, what do you like?

Do you like it?

Do you want to eat a Philly cheesesteak on this tour? And we're like, nope, don't need to. Great. It was like, good. Go to this one place called Reading Market. And it's like, it's this huge place that's just all kinds of food. Little shops, too, but mostly just food. And it was like, yeah, go there and basically eat whatever the heck you want. But here's some recommendations. Start with this. Do this. And it was like, great. And we followed probably 60% of what it recommended. But, but, but other than the main goal, which was just go and do whatever the heck you want, which is exactly what we did, you know, and. And now when I go to cities, it's like, oh, well, what if we just ask it what to do? Tell it what we like. Over time, it's going to learn even more about what we like and get even better at this. So.

Yeah, I think it's a great use. Yeah.

Yeah. It saved us a bunch of money. It was great.

Yeah.

Yep.

I love it. Yep. Smart.

So that's my. That's my making me angry tip.

Yeah.

Yeah, I know. Yeah. Now it's time for a food tour. Yeah, exactly.

That's cool.

All right, well, that's what I got for this week. You got anything that's good.

I don't have anything else or. No, we had our. We had that simulation. No, that's it for me, man. I'm good. I've, I'm. I'm learned a lot this week. A lot of good philosophical insight.

Yeah.

Into things, and I think much of it you can tie back into your business. Hopefully you enjoyed it.

Yeah. Feedback at BusinessBrain show. Tell us, did you like it? Did you not like it? What did you like? What didn't you like? What would you have added or what do you have questions about FeedbackUsBrain show? Let us know. We love hearing from you and keep living that charmed life. Have a great weekend. See you next time.

See ya.