Drew Breunig brings some much-needed clarity to the discussion of AI by suggesting that there are three core use cases.
- Gods: Super-intelligent, artificial entities that do things autonomously.
- Interns: Supervised copilots that collaborate with experts, focusing on grunt work.
- Cogs: Functions optimized to perform a single task extremely well, usually as part of a pipeline or interface.
The Gods use case is where most of the angst is focused. At present, it is mainly hype. Who knows how it will turn out?
Interns are tools desgned for use in particular domains by experts in that domain, for example Github Copilot for programmers, Grammarly for writers, and NotebookLM for researchers. I have been using NotebookLM in recent weeks and can vouch for its rapidly growing usefulness and capability. Drew posits that Interns are providing most of the value obtained from AI at present.
Cogs (aka Agents) are essentially components that perform one function correctly and reliably. They are being used to build systems in ways resonant of the software intensive systems we are already accustomed to. It seems certain that these systems will in due course become a driver of technological change.
Azeem Azhar suggests that the Interns category “can be split into two distinct types of AI assistance: “True Interns” and “Copilots”. True Interns can take on multi-step projects autonomously – imagine telling them “build a guest list for our AI conference” and they’ll research speakers, check social media presence, cross-reference past events, and return with a curated list. This is what Claude’s computer use promises to do. Then there are Copilots – AI that works alongside you in real-time, suggesting code as you type or refining your writing on the fly. They’re more like having a knowledgeable colleague looking over your shoulder than an intern working independently.“