4 minute read
Small Ways AI Enhances Everyday Life
Small Ways AI Enhances Everyday Life
By Hunt Lyman
The discourse on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often steeped in extreme narratives, presenting it either as a technological savior or an existential threat. While these opinions frequently rest on speculative forecasts, it’s easy to overlook the modest, yet meaningful, contributions that AI can make to our daily lives. Let me share two personal experiences where it’s been a helpful assistant. ChatGPT, a language model trained on AI technology, has turned me into an unlikely poet. I’ve amused friends and family by celebrating their birthdays with custom-made Shakespearean sonnets.
Although these poems are generated by a machine, their impact on the recipients is genuinely human. The task of writing a sonnet—14 lines of iambic pentameter, adhering to a strict rhyme scheme—is daunting for most. Yet for an AI model like ChatGPT, it’s virtually instantaneous. To be transparent, I always disclose on the card that I didn’t pen the sonnet myself, but the gesture is nonetheless always appreciated.
It’s also possible to create songs with AI, a helpful collaborator in my musical pursuits. This summer, the Middleburg Museum invited me to perform during a celebration honoring The Fun Shop—a Middleburg institution closing its doors after 66 years.
Eager to pay tribute to a place so integral to the community, I turned to ChatGPT. I fed it my notes on The Fun Shop and the Allen family that founded and owned the business and asked it to generate a bluegrass-style song, chords included.
ChatGPT immediately generated a song, but I wasn’t sure it would work, because there was no tune, only the chords. I printed out the draft, got my guitar, and started playing the chords. Almost immediately, I found a rhythm that seemed right.
I didn’t like each line, so I made some adjustments on my own and went back to the AI conversation and requested other options that would keep the meter and rhyme. Between my own edits and the alternatives AI provided, I finished a song I thought worked well. When I played it at the celebration, I do believe it was quite meaningful to the Allen sisters and their former employees.
Stepping away from the grand predictions and philosophical debates about AI, these are just two examples of how the technology has assisted me in creative endeavors I wouldn’t have undertaken otherwise.
For anyone intimidated by the notion of AI, remember that integrating it into your life doesn’t have to be a Herculean effort. AI is here to stay, so why not explore its potential to help you accomplish goals that currently feel just beyond your grasp?
Hunt Lyman is the Academic Dean at The Hill School in Middleburg and an accomplished musician, as well.
Middleburg’s Treasure: The Fun Shop Song
In Middleburg, where the land is so fair, Stood The Fun Shop, with treasures rare. Howard and Nancy, with dreams so grand, Built a touchstone of joy in a charming land.
Oh, The Fun Shop has tales to tell, For sixty-six years, in its magic we’d dwell. With every treasure, a laugh and surprise, In the heart of Virginia, its legacy lies.
Bells that’d jingle, keepsakes that shine, From the useful to fun, everything was fine. Paige and Betsy, carried the torch high, Continuing the dream, under Middleburg’s blue sky.
Rows of memories, aisles of delight, Lanterns and toys, lighting up the night. Every corner told a story, every shelf was a song, In The Fun Shop, where dreams belong. The Allen family, with passion so clear, Welcomed us all, year after year. From trinkets to relics, from dawn to the dusk, The Fun Shop’s spirit, in Middleburg they built trust.
So as the sun sets, and the years roll by, We’ll remember The Fun Shop, with a smile and a sigh. For in its walls, memories were spun, Thank you, Allen family, for decades of fun!
Oh, The Fun Shop has tales to tell, For sixty-six years, in its magic we’d dwell. With every treasure, a laugh and surprise, In the heart of Virginia, its legacy lies.
