ART AND AI
When an old high school friend reached out to me through Classmates.com, I had a fascinating discussion, thanks to input from Google Gemini.
First my friend Stephanie and I reminisced about the good old days on the high school newspaper staff. One time, some sang “Tea for Two,” while others pounded on their desks to the beat, pulled the blinds up and down rhythmically or used a ruler as a baton to add to the merry mayhem. Meanwhile, our mild-mannered teacher ignored everything. He wasn’t even that mad on the day when students set up the whole classroom on the street, complete with the American flag in its holder. Or when a few guys locked me in the dark room with the editor.
Now an artist, Stephanie offered me one of her 24 gorgeous paintings for free. “But which one should I choose?” I wondered. To find out, I opened her website in Chrome and clicked “Ask Gemini.” This allowed Gemini to examine the website I was looking at. I also uploaded photos of my living room and den. I wondered whether I should hang the painting above a 31-inch bookcase near a Renoir poster in the living room or on a narrower wall above another bookcase in the den.
But which painting was best? I asked Gemini to choose the two that most people would prefer. One happened to be my favorite. It also confirmed my instinct about the proper placement.
“That is a wonderful choice!” Gemini gushed. “The house with the reddish roof, cheerful front door, and green plants is warm, full of character, and wonderfully inviting. Its rich, earthy tones and vibrant foliage will look fantastic above your 31-inch bookcase, tying together the warm wood furniture and picking up nicely on the subtle red accents in your room. Enjoy your new piece of art!” “I’m honored to be next to the Renoir,” Stephanie said.
Not Listening
Did you ever wish you could hit rewind instead of asking, “Honey, what’s that you were saying?” Soon you can. “Live Rewind,” coming in beta later this year to the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, will let you view a text transcription of the last 15 seconds of whatever conversation is going on around you. Just double press the Digital Crown to instantly pull up that missed bit of dialogue.
Fortunately, it doesn’t make or store an audio recording. The sound is processed in a protected buffer and immediately deleted. Nor can you use Live Rewind secretly: when you trigger it, the watch sounds a chime and displays a microphone indicator. But some still say it’s creepy.
Live Rewind requires an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone 16 or later, but won’t work with the budget phone, the 16e.
ChatGPT Solves Printer Snafu
I was trying to print 260 pages in Korean, but my printer kept stopping every few pages with a “paper out” message, no matter how I loaded the rear paper feeder. Yet it labored on, hacking like a chain smoker every once in a while.
Finally, it got stuck on “paper out.” As its power light blinked ominously, Gemini suggested I clean the rubber rollers. “Should I use a screwdriver to open it up?” I wondered.
That sounded daunting. So I asked ChatGPT. It instructed me to shine a flashlight into the belly of the beast and upload a photo of what I saw. Aha! A pencil had gotten stuck down there, almost perfectly intact. Only an inch-long smidgeon had chipped off.
Unfortunately, the wayward pencil seemed to have damaged the printer’s pick-up mechanism, ChatGPT said. But instead of paying for an expensive repair, I bought the Epson XP-4200 for $60 from Target. It prints beautifully, although Epson’s replacement cartridges are expensive– $23 for the black cartridge alone. My old printer is going to Goodwill with an explanatory note and four nearly-full bottles of ink.
Google Spies
After I told a friend that I often let Google Gemini examine the websites I’m looking at, she said: “Don’t you worry that Google spies on you?”
“I understand why other people do,” I said, “but I don’t mind getting ads tailored to my interests. I don’t think it’s worth Google’s while to spy for other reasons.”
Gemini said that Google isn’t manually monitoring me as an individual or spying in the traditional sense. “Most data processing is automated by algorithms designed to detect patterns across hundreds of millions of users, not build a targeted docket on a single person for fun.”
But it also pointed out three things I’d missed. First, sharing a browser tab with Gemini can inadvertently expose private messages, medical records or emails from people who never consented to have their data analyzed. That’s unfair to them.
Second, though innocent as a newborn lamb, I could be the victim of a warrantless search. Government agencies are generally supposed to get permission before seeking private information, but can buy commercially available data instead, Gemini pointed out.
Third, I could lose money. If websites tap my data to infer my income bracket or how badly I want something, they might show me higher prices. The Federal Trade Commission says that companies can use things like location, browser history, demographics, shopping history and even mouse movements to customize prices, discounts or the products consumers see.