Did it do the work?

Whether you love it or hate it, I don’t think there is any denying that generative AI is an incredible technical achievement. I use Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot multiple times a day for all kinds of different things. But I’ve been struggling with questions about the technology that nobody around me seems readily able to answer. Worryingly — I think — I also rarely come across anyone else asking these questions. In a work context, there is pressure to get on and deploy this technology everywhere in order to unlock business value, but I do wonder how many people who are doing this have a good mental model of how it all hangs together and what’s going on behind the scenes. My background in technology I think of myself as a technologist. I have a degree in Computer Science and have worked in Information Technology in banking and finance for nearly 30 years. From a very young age, working with computers was the only thing I could see myself doing. My passion for computers was…