Warning: a demo at the Austin library made me rethink how I talk to my computer

I was at a public tech demo in Austin last month, just killing time. They had this new voice AI that could follow a whole string of commands at once, like 'open my email, find the message from Sarah, and read me the last paragraph'. I always used to give one order at a time and wait. The guy running it said it's called 'chain-of-thought prompting' and the model can handle up to 5 steps in one go. It felt weird to just talk in a full sentence like that, but it worked. Has anyone else tried giving their assistant a multi-step job like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

west.casey5d ago

Yeah, that chain of thought thing is a game changer. Started telling mine to "check the weather, then add a reminder to grab an umbrella if it's going to rain." Feels like you're actually giving it a task instead of just barking single commands.

margaretramirez5d ago

Honestly, I still feel a little silly talking to my phone in full sentences like that. I tried telling mine to add milk to my shopping list and text my partner I was at the store, and it just felt so formal. But it did work, so I guess I'll get used to it.

emeryj665d ago

Actually, the demo guy might have mixed up the terms. Chain-of-thought is more for getting an AI to show its work step by step when solving a problem. What you're describing is just giving a multi-step command. I mean, it's cool that it works, but the name is a bit off. I tried something similar asking mine to summarize my calendar and text my friend if I'm free.