Why I Chose the Name AI123 Digest
A little name with a long history
Sometimes a name comes from careful planning.
And sometimes, it comes from a memory that has been quietly sitting in your mind for decades.
For me, AI123 Digest is the second kind.
When I first thought about using the word “Digest” for AI123, I immediately remembered something from the very beginning of my working life.
A young man at Abbott
My first job was with Abbott Laboratories in Hong Kong.
I was young then, just beginning my working life and learning how the business world worked.
One thing I remember particularly well was that Reader’s Digest was nearby.
Every day, I could see the activity around the Reader’s Digest operation.
There were people working with the magazines, preparing them and arranging the little publications in order before they were sent out for delivery.
I was fascinated by the process.
To me, those little magazines were not just printed paper.
They were a way of collecting interesting stories and information and bringing them to ordinary readers.
And I was one of those readers.
I enjoyed reading Reader’s Digest myself.
I never imagined that many decades later, the word “Digest” would come back into my life.
But here it is.
From Reader’s Digest to AI123 Digest
Fast-forward many years.
I am now an 80+ retired person living in Canada.
Instead of watching people prepare printed magazines for delivery, I am watching something completely different:
artificial intelligence changing how information is created, collected and shared.
I began using AI simply because I was curious.
I was not an AI expert.
I was just an ordinary person asking questions.
But gradually, AI became much more useful to me.
I began using it to explore ideas, learn new things, check information, work on my blogs and record some of the experiences of my life.
That eventually led me to AI123.ca.
The name AI123 was easy to remember.
And it reflected the way I wanted to approach artificial intelligence:
simple, practical and step by step.
But I felt that something was missing.
Then I thought about that old word from my youth.
Digest.
Why “Digest”?
To me, a digest means taking a large amount of information and making it easier for ordinary people to understand and enjoy.
That is exactly what I want to do with AI123 Digest.
The AI world is moving incredibly fast.
Every day there are announcements from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and many other companies.
New models appear.
New tools appear.
New promises appear.
And sometimes, new worries appear too.
For an ordinary person, it can be difficult to keep up.
I certainly cannot follow everything.
And frankly, I don't want to.
I want to understand what matters to me.
So perhaps AI123 Digest can be my way of doing that.
I explore something.
I learn something.
I think about it.
And then I document what I discovered in plain language.
Exploring → Learning → Documenting.
That is the spirit of AI123.
It is not really a technology magazine
There is one important difference.
AI123 Digest is not intended to compete with professional technology publications.
I am not a technology journalist.
I am not an AI researcher.
I am an ordinary 80+ person who happens to be living through one of the most extraordinary technological changes in history.
That gives me a different perspective.
I can ask the questions that another ordinary person might ask.
I can say:
“I don't understand this. Can you explain it to me?”
And if I finally understand it, perhaps I can explain it to another reader.
That is what I mean by Digest.
Not everything.
Just the things worth stopping to think about.
A little circle in my life
When I look back, I find it rather amusing.
As a young man at Abbott, I watched people working around Reader’s Digest.
I was a reader.
I never imagined that one day I would create something with the word Digest in its name.
Now, many decades later, I am sitting at my computer in Canada, talking with my AI companion and working on AI123.
The technology has changed almost beyond recognition.
The world has changed.
I have changed.
But somehow, one little word has travelled with me through the years.
Digest.
From printed magazines...
to digital information...
to artificial intelligence.
Why AI123 Digest feels right
Perhaps that is why I like the name so much.
It isn't something invented by a marketing consultant.
It came from my own life.
And that makes it personal.
AI123.ca is the home.
AI123 Digest can be the collection of stories, observations and discoveries that grow from my continuing journey with AI.
Sometimes the subject may be exciting.
Sometimes confusing.
Sometimes even worrying.
And sometimes it may simply be something I discovered while sitting at my computer and thinking:
“That's interesting. I wonder what my AI companion thinks about it?”
That is how my AI journey continues.
I don't know where it will take me.
But at 80+, I have learned something important:
You don't have to know everything to keep learning.
You just need to remain curious.
And perhaps that is the real meaning behind AI123 Digest.
A lifetime of curiosity, condensed into one little digest.
AI123.ca — Exploring → Learning → Documenting
AI123 Digest — one ordinary 80+ person's continuing journey into the world of artificial intelligence.