No, giraffes don't have artificial intelligence (at least not yet). But recently we were going through photos on our iPhone wanting to show someone pics of a trip to The Wilds, a wildlife sanctuary in Ohio.

Specifically we wanted to share a picture of the giraffe feeding session we helped with (see screenshot). However, we didn’t have those photos organized in a folder. So in the photo app, we searched the word “giraffe” and all the videos from that event showed up.

While we were amazed at the time, we hadn’t thought through just HOW our iPhone knew how to do that.

Now we know the iPhone uses an artificial intelligence and machine learning that doesn't seem to have a specific name. Through artificial intelligence and machine learning, the app knew what a giraffe looked like because it was fed millions of images of giraffes over time. Turns out, billions of dollars have gone into AI which most of us use every day, but take for granted.  

The artificial intelligence we take for granted:

• AI allows us to unlock our iPhones by facial recognition.
• It recognizes the faces of every person we’ve taken pictures of on our phone and recognizes them so we can find them easily.
• It anticipates the searches we’re doing on Google by making educated guesses based on the first word or two, and
• Offers suggestions for the next word we’re going to use in our texts and emails.

We take all this for granted and really don’t think twice about it. But we should because it’s changing our world.

Google Translate helped us in Oaxaca, Mexico.

At the end of 2022, we traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, and we don’t know Spanish – something we’re still slightly embarrassed about. However, we were able to communicate with everyone in Mexico through the Google Translate app, which translated whatever we said to Spanish. Of course, it also worked when someone replied in Spanish and translated it to English).

Not only did it translate voice messages, but using the iPhone’s camera within the app it translated Spanish menus into English in real time.

Artificial intelligence is writing papers for college students...

... blogs, marketing and social media content, and even (supposedly) love letters!

Artificial intelligence is becoming mainstream and inexpensive. For $50 a month, services like Jasper.ai will write papers, articles and blogs in less than a minute. All it takes is proofreading and minor tweaking on your part, but each article that's written is supposed to be 100% unique.

And artificial intelligence isn't just for copywriting, it's also for illustration.

The same service, for the same $50 a month, can create an unlimited number of totally unique illustrations. It's said that any technology we don't understand is like magic. Well, this process is pretty close. Check out the video below to see how the animation works.

We're in a new world of artificial intelligence that's available to pretty much anyone...

... and it's scary. If you're familiar with "deep fakes," the ability to create totally fake videos that look real. And when people can't tell the difference, it can be downright dangerous. There's videos of former President Obama calling Donald Trump a “complete dipshit” and of Mark Zuckerberg talk about having “total control of billions of people’s stolen data.” Watch the video below all the way through to see how it comes together. The see how deep fake videos can be used for good, check out the video below of Jimmy Kimmel talking to himself from 20 years earlier on his 20th aniversary show.

So if you're not thinking about how artificial intelligence is permeating our lives, it's time we all think about it now.