ALONG FOR THE RIDE

By William Hall Managing Editor

As automotive enthusiasts, we have a fascination and understanding of machinery. Which is why machine learning, or artificial intelligence (AI for short) – an emerging technology that has been in the news as of late – may seem especially dubious to us. CBS News recently interviewed Google CEO Sundar Pichai about AI, who stated, “This is going to impact every product, in every company.” When asked which jobs would be disrupted, he answered, “knowledge workers: people like writers, accountants and architects.”

Now, anyone who has used the internet probably realizes the last thing we need is more churnalistic content – automated or not –taking the place of authentic, incisive human experience. Truly, these are dire times for creative people.

No sooner than I’d licked the postage stamp on my job application as a Trappist monk, I received an email from AAT CEO David Madeira challenging me and the Trust’s marketing, development and curation teams to help take OpenRoad in the opposite direction of the trend, doubling down by telling more 100% human-generated stories of our shared love affair with the automobile. Game on.

To that end, I reached out to “America’s Favorite Automotive Writer”, Peter Egan. In his 30-year stint as editor for Road & Track and Cycle World magazines, he’s garnered a fervent following for his witty storytelling on our relationships with cars and motorcycles, the places they take us, and the people we meet. There is no better champion we can muster against the threat of computer-generated media mediocrity. His psychological self-examination of reacquiring a lost love begins on page 10.

By way of introduction, “The World’s Fastest Novelist” Burt “B.S.” Levy, offers an excerpt from his rollicking 1950’s-set road racing tome, The Last Open Road. Burt has been fixing, selling, racing and writing about cars for more than half a century, and he’s uniquely qualified to represent all of humanity’s fabulous foibles in the pages of OR, distilled through the fictitious character of Colin St. John, elegantly veneered sports car dealer extraordinaire.

Nevertheless, as gearheads we can’t help but tinker with this new-fangled AI thingy. So, we asked Alan Galbraith – whom you know as founder and Head Wingnut of the Concours d’Lemons, the irreverent traveling car show which embraces the odd, misunderstood, and downright disturbing of the automotive world – to display and explain some of the beautiful automotive art he(?) created just by feeding word suggestions into Midjourney, an AI computer application. Intrigued? We hope so.

With all this in mind, how best to reply to David Madeira’s challenge? Fittingly, a quote from one of the first AI computers (rather unsuccessfully) implemented in the field, Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey: “I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you, Dave.” What could go wrong?

Board Members

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Michael J. Phillips, Emeritus, Altaira Wealth Management – Clyde Hill, WA

Al Ruozzi, RB Car Collection –Allentown, PA

Paul Sabatini, Lincoln of Troy –Troy, MI

Steve Saleen, Saleen Automotive –Corona, CA

Manfred Scharmach, BMW Northwest, Northwest Mini, Seattle Mini, Northwest Pre-Owned Center – Fife, WA

Jonathon Shaw, Hemmings –Bennington, VT

Jason Wenig, The Creative Workshop – Dania Beach, FL

James M. Will, Emeritus, Titus-Will Enterprises, Inc. – Tacoma, WA

Steering Committee

Sandra Button, Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance –Carmel, CA

Jiyan K. Cadiz, Ford, North American Enthusiast Vehicles –Detroit, MI

Gill Campbell, Aero Marketing Group – Monterey, CA

John Carlson, National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada Corporation – Belcarra, BC, Canada

Rick Dore, Rick Dore Kustoms –Carlsbad, CA

Nicolle Girard, Hagerty – Traverse City, MI

Alan Grant, LARGE Architecture –Los Angeles, CA

Peter Hageman, Suite 200 Automobile Collection – Kirkland, WA

William Hall, Auto Journalist –Elkhart Lake, WI

Lindsey Harrell, Hilton Head Island Concours d’ Elegance & Motoring Festival – Hilton Head Island, SC

Andrew Hogan, Auto Enthusiast –Gig Harbor, WA

Paul Ianuario, Retired Curator of the BMW Zentrum – Duncan, SC Rock Jenkins, State Farm – Tacoma, WA

Al McEwan, Suite 200 Automobile Collection – Redmond, WA

Glenn Mounger, Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance – Bainbridge Island, WA

Pamela Chavez Rosen, External Advisor, Shell Oil Company –Houston, TX

Ken D. Ross, Auto Enthusiast –Detroit, MI

Blake Siebe, Northwest Auto Salon, Right Away Tire – Lynwood, WA

Jeff Stumb, The Great Race –Chattanooga, TN

Kristen Wells, Avants – Seattle, WA

Drew Weyerhaeuser, Auto Enthusiast – San Francisco, CA

Gina Zinn, State Farm – Tacoma, WA