Woodworkers often will have a preference for their favorite tool. Once they become comfortable with that tool they will sometimes prefer to use it for things it wasn't designed. For me it was the band saw. When I needed to split a board, bandsaw. When I needed to cut a curve, bandsaw. Cut a horse figure? bandsaw!
I once saw a woodworking television show that seemed to do everything on the table saw. Rip, make frames for paintings, everything. It seemed the next step of every design was accomplished "over at the table saw".
Right now it seems that's what people are doing with AI. Need a bandsaw? use AI. Need a table saw? Use AI. Need to think of a solution of any kind, better consult AI.
Right before this trend I recall kids wanting to check YouTube first before doing anything. Now they ask AI.
There's an app for that, there's a website for that, there's a magazine for that, there's a phone number you can call, and so on and so on.
As with everything, I say this: do your own thinking and proceed with caution.
This too shall pass.
Whenever people compare ai to a one real world tool always surprises me tbh.
The only equivalent tool in wood working would be a robot that can build an entire table from scratch and you just sit there and tell it what to do and what kinda table you want and watch it autonomously build everything.
1 saw type is not really even remotely equivalent to what ai is to software.
Yeah, AI is a general purpose technology, on a par with the introduction of the computer itself. Analogies to tools seems inappropriate.
I understand your point but it's funny to use AI as an example since a big benefit is it's generality. It's mediocre at many things but the fact that you can just use one tool and get passable results across many domains makes it so useful.
> Right now it seems that's what people are doing with AI. […] This too shall pass.
Except that it’s difficult to imagine an even more general tool that would replace AI in this role.
We don't necessarily need a more general tool for a lot of it to pass. We just need the bubble to pop so people can start looking at the tool more objectively and admit that it's not the right tool for every job.
Trying to use one tool for everything is often a sign of a new tool someone is infatuated with and wants an excuse to use, or are trying to understand everything it can do. Once the novelty wears off and flaws in various uses cases become more apparent, it can take on a more specialized role.