AI Roadtrip! Can Google Bard lead the way?

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It doesn't feel like it's been over a year already that ChatGPT was released into the world. A quick search on the Internet shows that it was November 30, 2022 that ChatGPT was unleashed to the public. As much as I love Taylor Swift, I somewhat agree with the people who think the creator of ChatGPT should have been the person of the year last year.

You would think being a tech guy, I would have been one of the first people to have an account. The truth is, I never created an account. I think I signed up for one at some point, but I never heard back from the system. It was right around the time a new version of the platform was coming out and I think they were busy.

There's also the fact that AI kind of scares the crap out of me. I've seen enough movies about AI gone wrong in my lifetime to know that we are potentially dealing with something quite dangerous.

In addition to that, I was never fully sold on the idea that this is actually AI. Even today I feel like the system does little more than regurgitate data it has collected from various sources. Sure, it doesn't it more efficiently and quickly than I could, but it feels like more of a dog and pony show.

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I have yet to see any reasonable estimations or guesses from AI. In fact, most times when you ask it to forecast anything, it basically skirts the subject and gives you a lot of flowering language that amounts to nothing. I'd also like to see AI be able to create an original joke that is actually funny. I think once we get to that point, we might actually be getting somewhere.

But I digress.

This summer @mrsbozz and I are taking a roadtrip to Colorado to watch my niece play softball in a big tournament out there. Due to the fact that we want to be able to take our chairs and other equipment, we have decided to drive.

Despite the early issues Google had with their AI product (just Google it, you will find out how bad it was), I decided to sign up for Bard when it was launched. It was promised to be a better version of their early attempts and given the fact that I have a shiny new Google Pixel 8 Pro phone, I figured why not.

Unfortunately, so far, I am not that impressed.

I typed this in the other day to see if I could get any information.

I'm going to be driving from [my hometown] Michigan to Denver Colorado over the span of two days. Can you give me a good midpoint between the two cities to spend the night and some interesting historic or natural sights to see along the way?

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Actually, the first time I typed in the question, I used the postal abbreviations for the states instead of typing out the whole state name. It responded that the midpoint was somewhere near Cheyenne Wyoming. I don't know much about geography (get the reference there?), but I'm pretty sure that Wyoming isn't anywhere near the midpoint between Michigan and Colorado.

Not to be deterred, I reworked the question and added the full state names. That gave me a little better results putting my midpoint at mile marker 326 on I-80. My guess is it puts me right around Omaha Nebraska.

As for things to visit on the route, it gave me Chicago, Omaha, and Badlands National Park which is quite a ways off my route in South Dakota.

Clearly, there is still a lot of work to be done with Bard. To be fair, I fully understand that I probably have to be a bit more specific with my questions. It's possible I tried to go a little too hard too fast and I need to take a more refined approach to asking it questions.

I think when I try again I might try to only ask it for one piece of information at a time until it comes up with a full itinerary.

I can't help but wonder what ChatGPT might have come up with had I entered the same information.

Then again, it might be easier to just talk to people who have taken that route and see what they have to say. @bigtom23, you ever made the long drive down I-80? Any good spots to check out between Denver Colorado and Michigan? I trust your judgement.

Anyone else for that matter? @vgholdingsllc or @thebighigg, any gem or ore farms that I should check out? How about anyone else from the #silvergoldstacker community, any bullion or coin shops I should check out along the way?

It's kind of sad because I feel with all their money and resources a product like this from Google should be a lot better. Again, maybe I am just going about it the wrong way. The good news is, I have plenty of time between now and then to get it right.

My hope is that Google finally finds a way to impress me, because right now, I am not so much...

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced