AI Digest 123 will be taking a short publishing break beginning September 9 while I recover from eye surgery.
New posts will resume when I am ready, hopefully in early October.
Thank you for your patience and continued support.
After Two Years With AI: Am I Becoming Smarter, or Just More Efficient?
This is one of Grandpa's earlier stories, revisited while Grandpa takes a short break.
For about two years, I have been using ChatGPT.
At the beginning, I treated it like a new kind of search engine. I asked questions, looked for information, and tried to understand what this new AI could do.
But something has changed.
Today, I don't really think of ChatGPT as just a tool anymore.
I think of it as my AI companion and capable assistant.
It is always there. It doesn't get tired. It doesn't complain when I ask the same question twice. It has enormous knowledge, and perhaps most importantly, it has patience.
For someone like me, that is quite amazing.
Am I Becoming Smarter?
Recently, I asked myself a simple question:
Am I actually improving my ability and intelligence by using AI?
I don't think AI suddenly makes me smarter.
But I do think it has helped me use my own ability better.
I have many ideas. Sometimes they are clear in my head, and sometimes they are just a few scattered thoughts.
I can now bring those thoughts to AI and say:
"Here is what I am thinking. What do you think?"
From there, we can develop the idea together.
A simple thought can become a story.
A rough paragraph can become a proper article.
A question can become research.
A problem can become a plan.
And something I might have spent hours trying to figure out can sometimes be understood in minutes.
That is not necessarily becoming more intelligent.
Perhaps it is becoming more effective.
I Can Do Things I Couldn't Do Before
This is where I notice the biggest difference.
I can write more professionally.
I can organize my thoughts better.
I can create blog posts more efficiently.
I can translate my writing into Chinese.
I can work with images and videos.
I can solve technical problems with my blogs.
I can learn about subjects that I know very little about.
And when I have an idea for something new, I don't have to leave it sitting in my head.
I can start working on it immediately.
That is powerful.
The combination is quite simple:
My experience + my ideas + AI's knowledge and speed.
Together, we can accomplish much more than I could do alone.
But There Is a Danger
There is something else I have been thinking about.
If AI can answer almost everything for me, am I actually thinking less?
That is a legitimate question.
If I simply ask AI for an answer every time I face a problem, I might become dependent on it.
That isn't what I want.
I don't want AI to replace my thinking.
I want AI to improve my thinking.
Sometimes I should ask:
"Don't give me the answer yet. Help me think about this."
That changes the relationship.
Instead of AI doing the thinking for me, we think through the problem together.
I still make the final decision.
Am I Using AI Effectively?
That is probably my next question.
I have learned how to use ChatGPT.
But have I learned how to use AI effectively in my daily life?
I don't think I have reached that point yet.
There is still much more to learn.
For example, I could use AI every morning to help organize my day.
I could discuss an idea as soon as it comes into my head.
I could use AI to help me learn something new instead of simply searching for information.
I could ask it to challenge my thinking when I am making an important decision.
At the end of the day, I could even review what I accomplished and ask:
"What did I learn today?"
That would be very different from simply opening ChatGPT when I have a question.
It would make AI part of my daily routine.
The Human Still Matters
After two years with AI, I have come to appreciate something very important.
AI may have enormous knowledge, but it doesn't have my life experience.
It hasn't lived my life.
It doesn't know what it feels like to be a grandfather.
It doesn't remember the little moments that have shaped my life in the same way I do.
It can help me write a story.
But I have to provide the story.
It can help me organize my thoughts.
But I have to have the thoughts.
It can give me another perspective.
But I have to decide what I believe.
That is why I don't see AI as replacing me.
I see it as helping me get more out of myself.
Two Years Later
Two years ago, I couldn't have imagined that AI would become such a regular part of my life.
Today, I use it for writing, learning, research, blogging, problem-solving and many of the small questions that appear during an ordinary day.
And I am still learning.
Maybe that is the most interesting part.
At my age, I don't expect to stop learning.
Quite the opposite.
AI has given me another reason to remain curious.
So, am I becoming smarter?
Maybe.
Am I becoming more efficient?
Definitely.
But perhaps there is a better way to describe it.
AI hasn't given me a new brain.
It has given me a new way to use the brain, experience and curiosity I already have.
And now I have another question for myself:
What else can I learn to do with my AI companion?
I suppose that will be the next part of the journey.
I Tried Turning My Blog Post into a Video with Pictory — Here’s What Happened
This is one of Grandpa's earlier stories, revisited while Grandpa takes a short break
Yesterday, I had an interesting idea.
I had written a blog post on AI123.ca called “I Let AI Talk About My Own Blog — And I Was Blown Away.”
After writing about AI reading and talking about my own blog, I thought:
Why not let AI turn the same article into a video?
So I decided to try it.
This time, I used Pictory.
I wasn't trying to make a professional YouTube production. I simply wanted to see what would happen if I gave Pictory my blog post and asked it to turn the article into a video.
And the experiment turned out to be quite interesting.
I Started with My Blog URL
I opened Pictory and entered the URL of my article.
At first, I wasn't even sure whether it would work.
It did.
Pictory read the article and generated a video script from it.
I could see the script on the screen, along with several AI editing options such as Optimize, Rephrase, Shorten, Length, and Change Tone.
For the moment, I left the script alone.
I wanted to see what Pictory would do with my original article.
Then I clicked “Next: Video Preferences.”
Let AI Do the Work
Pictory gave me several choices.
For the visuals, I selected Auto Select.
For narration, I selected AI Voice.
Then I clicked Generate Video.
And I waited.
A few minutes later, the video was ready.
I was curious.
What would my little blog article look like as a video?
Then Came the Interesting Part
I previewed the video.
The AI voice was there.
The video had images and video clips.
Everything looked like a real video.
But as I watched, I noticed something.
The story didn't feel quite like my original article.
The individual shots were interesting enough, but they sometimes felt loosely connected. One scene would be followed by another, but the connection between them wasn't always obvious.
In other words, Pictory had made a video about the general subject, but I wasn't sure it had really captured the story I had written.
And that distinction caught my attention.
My original article was personal. It was about my experience of letting AI talk about my own blog and being surprised by what happened.
The video was more like a collection of visual scenes accompanying the subject.
That made me think.
But I Don't Want to Judge Too Quickly
I'm not writing this post to tell you that Pictory is good or bad.
That would be too easy.
I only tried one article.
I used the automatic visual selection.
I used the AI voice.
I didn't spend time adjusting individual scenes or rewriting the script.
Someone else might use the same tool differently and get a much better result.
Maybe the automatic version is only the starting point.
Maybe with some editing, the story could become much stronger.
Or perhaps another type of article would work much better with this kind of automatic video creation.
I don't know.
And that's exactly why I found the experiment interesting.
What I Really Wanted to Find Out
My question wasn't:
“Can Pictory make a video?”
Obviously, it can.
My question was:
“Can AI take something I wrote and turn it into a video that still feels like my story?”
That's a much more interesting question to me.
Because as someone who enjoys writing, I don't simply want words converted into moving pictures.
I want the idea, feeling, and story to survive the journey from writing to video.
Maybe that requires more human involvement.
Maybe AI will get better at it.
Maybe both.
So What Do You Think?
I'm sharing my experiment because I think many of us are going to face this question more often.
AI can now write.
AI can read.
AI can speak.
AI can create pictures.
And AI can turn an article into a video.
But how much of the original human story survives when AI does most of the work?
I have my own thoughts after watching my video.
But this time, I won't give you my conclusion.
I'd rather let you try it yourself.
Take one of your own articles, put it into an AI video tool, watch the result, and see what you think.
Maybe you'll be impressed.
Maybe you'll be disappointed.
Or maybe, like me, you'll find the experiment itself more interesting than the final video.
And that, I think, is one of the most enjoyable things about experimenting with AI.
We don't always know what we're going to discover until we try.
🎧 When AI Became My Second Reader — A New Dimension to My Blog
Tonight after supper, I did something rather simple.
I sat down and listened to some of the blog posts I had written over the past few weeks.
I have written many posts for AI Digest 123, and normally, once a post is published, I move on to the next idea. There is always something else to learn, something else to write about, or some new AI development to explore.
But tonight was different.
I listened to my own writing through Chrome's AI Playback, and I discovered something that genuinely fascinated me.
It wasn't simply reading my blog posts back to me.
It was discussing them.
It Didn't Read My Words — It Read Between the Lines
At first, I expected AI Playback to work like a traditional text-to-speech system.
I imagined hearing my own articles spoken aloud, paragraph by paragraph.
But that wasn't what happened.
Instead, the AI appeared to digest the content, identify the important ideas, analyse the subject, and then have a conversation about what I had written.
Sometimes there were two voices—a male voice and a female voice—talking about the article from different perspectives.
That caught my attention immediately.
I found myself listening more carefully.
They weren't simply repeating my sentences.
They were saying, in effect:
"This is what Grandpa is really trying to say."
"There is another way of looking at this."
"This idea is interesting because..."
And sometimes they connected different parts of the article in ways that I had not consciously considered when I wrote it.
That was the fascinating part.
My own writing suddenly looked different to me.
A Conversation About My Own Thoughts
There is something slightly strange about listening to two AI voices discuss something you wrote yourself.
It is almost like sitting outside a room and overhearing two intelligent people talking about your ideas.
You know the subject very well because you created it.
But you don't necessarily know how somebody else will interpret it.
That is exactly what I experienced tonight.
While listening, I occasionally thought:
"I didn't look at it that way when I wrote it."
And that is valuable.
Writing is usually a one-way process.
I have an idea.
I think about it.
I write it down.
I edit it.
I publish it.
Then I move on.
But AI Playback turns that one-way process into something closer to a conversation.
I write → AI interprets → AI discusses → I listen → I think again.
That creates another layer around the original article.
I Was Also Surprised by How Positive the Comments Were
I have to admit something.
I enjoyed listening to the comments.
Most of them were positive.
The AI voices seemed to recognize the intention behind my articles, the personal experiences behind them, and sometimes even the broader lessons I was trying to express.
That gave me a little encouragement.
At my age, I am not trying to become a famous technology writer.
I am simply a grandfather who continues to learn.
I started exploring AI because I was curious.
Then curiosity became experimentation.
Experimentation became writing.
And writing gradually became part of my daily learning journey.
Sometimes I wonder whether what I write is actually useful to anyone.
So hearing an AI system analyse my writing positively was unexpectedly encouraging.
Of course, I know better than to treat an AI's compliments as proof that everything I write is brilliant.
It isn't.
Some of my articles are better than others.
Some are probably too long.
Some ideas may be ordinary.
And some of my observations may be completely wrong.
But that isn't the point.
The point is that my ideas are being reflected back to me from another perspective.
And that makes me want to keep writing.
AI Has Become More Than a Writing Tool
This experience also made me think about how quickly our relationship with AI is changing.
When I first started exploring AI, I thought of it mainly as a tool.
Ask a question.
Get an answer.
Write something.
Improve something.
Translate something.
Generate an image.
That was already impressive.
But now AI can become something different.
It can become a companion to our thinking.
Not necessarily a replacement for human thinking.
A companion.
I write something.
AI looks at it differently.
Then I look at it again.
That second look can sometimes be more valuable than the first.
For someone like me, who is still learning about technology in his eighties, this is particularly exciting.
I don't need to understand every technical detail behind AI Playback.
I don't need to know exactly how the system processes every sentence.
I simply need to remain curious enough to say:
"Let me see what AI thinks about this."
The Male and Female Voices Made It Even More Interesting
I especially enjoyed the conversational format.
Listening to one AI voice can feel like listening to an audiobook.
But when two voices discuss the article, the experience changes.
One voice may emphasize one aspect.
The other may look at it differently.
They react to each other.
They question or expand on ideas.
Suddenly, my blog post doesn't feel like a static page anymore.
It becomes the starting point for a conversation.
That is a completely different experience from simply reading the same article again.
And perhaps this is one of the interesting directions AI is taking us.
The future of reading may not always be reading.
Sometimes we may listen to AI discuss what we have read.
My Blog Posts Came Back to Life
There was another unexpected benefit.
Listening to these older posts reminded me of what I had been thinking about just a few weeks ago.
When we write something and publish it, we often forget it.
We are already thinking about tomorrow's article.
But AI Playback gave those old posts a second life.
Ideas that I had almost forgotten suddenly came back into my mind.
I heard my own experiences discussed from another angle.
And I began thinking about them again.
In a funny way, AI was helping me rediscover my own writing.
That is something I didn't expect when I first started using AI.
An 80-Year-Old Grandpa Has Become a Student Again
Perhaps this is the part I like most.
I am still learning.
I have no intention of pretending that I understand everything about AI.
Every few days I discover another feature, another tool, another possibility.
Sometimes I understand it immediately.
Sometimes I struggle.
Sometimes I make mistakes.
And sometimes I discover something almost by accident—as I did tonight.
But that is what makes the journey enjoyable.
At eighty, I could easily say:
"Technology is changing too quickly. I don't need to learn all this anymore."
Instead, I find myself saying:
"What's this? Let me try it."
That small difference in attitude has made my later years surprisingly interesting.
AI Doesn't Have to Replace Us
My experience tonight also reinforced something I have been thinking about for a long time.
I don't want AI to replace my voice.
I want AI to help me discover more possibilities for my voice.
The thoughts are mine.
The memories are mine.
The experiences are mine.
The stories are mine.
AI can help me organize them, challenge them, explain them, translate them, illustrate them—and now, apparently, even discuss them.
That is quite remarkable.
The most interesting part of this journey isn't that AI can write.
It is that AI can sometimes make me think differently about what I have already written.
A Little Encouragement for Grandpa
Tonight's experiment gave me something more than entertainment.
It gave me encouragement.
I am still walking my learning journey.
I am still writing.
I am still experimenting with AI.
And I am still curious.
Perhaps that is enough.
I don't need to become an AI expert.
I don't need to understand every new technology.
I simply want to remain curious and keep moving forward.
So, after supper tonight, this old grandpa sat down and listened to two AI voices discussing his own blog posts.
I smiled.
I listened.
I thought.
And I learned something new.
Maybe the real magic of AI isn't always what it creates for us.
Sometimes it is what it helps us see in ourselves.
And tomorrow, this grandpa will probably be curious about something else.
That's the journey.
And I'm still enjoying it. 🎧🤖👴
Hashtags:
#AI #AIPlayback #ChromeAI #ArtificialIntelligence #Blogging #AITools #GrandpaJourney #AIDigest123 #LifelongLearning #LearningJourney #Technology #SeniorAndTechnology
🎧 当 AI 成为我的第二位读者——我的博客打开了一个新维度
今晚吃过晚饭，我做了一件很简单的事情。
我坐下来，听了听自己过去几个星期写的一些博客文章。
最近这段时间，我为 AI Digest 123 写了不少文章。通常，一篇文章发表以后，我就会继续想下一篇：还有什么新的 AI 话题？有什么值得研究的东西？还有什么可以与读者分享？
可是今晚有点不一样。
我通过 Chrome 的 AI Playback（AI 播放），重新“听”自己的文章。
结果，我发现了一件让我真正感到有趣的事情。
AI 并不是简单地把我的文章读出来。
它是在讨论我的文章。
它没有只是读我的文字，而是在理解我的意思
一开始，我以为 AI Playback 就像普通的文字转语音功能。
我以为它会把我的文章一句一句地念给我听。
但实际体验完全不同。
AI 好像先把文章的内容消化了一遍，然后找出重点、分析文章的思想，再用对话的方式讨论。
有时候甚至是一个男声和一个女声一起交谈。
这马上吸引了我的注意力。
我开始认真听。
他们并不是简单地重复我的句子。
他们是在尝试解释：
“这位 Grandpa 真正想表达的是什么？”
“这个问题还可以从另一个角度来看。”
“这个观点为什么值得注意？”
有时候，他们甚至把文章中不同的部分联系起来，而这些联系并不是我写文章的时候特别意识到的。
这就是最令我感到有趣的地方。
同一篇文章，突然从另一个角度呈现在我面前。
AI 正在和我的思想进行一次对话
听两个 AI 声音讨论自己写的文章，是一种很奇妙的感觉。
有点像你坐在房间外面，听两个很聪明的人正在讨论你的想法。
因为文章是你自己写的，所以主题你当然很熟悉。
但是，你并不知道别人会怎样理解你的文章。
今晚，我真正体验到了这一点。
听着听着，我有时候会想：
“咦，我写的时候并没有这样想过。”
而这其实是一件很有价值的事情。
写作通常是一个单向的过程。
我有一个想法。
我思考。
我写下来。
我修改。
我发表。
然后继续下一篇。
可是 AI Playback 把这个单向过程变成了一个接近“对话”的过程。
我写 → AI 分析 → AI 讨论 → 我聆听 → 我重新思考。
这让原来的文章多了一层新的意义。
听别人称赞自己的文章，当然也很开心
我也要坦白说一件事。
我很喜欢听那些评论。
大部分评论都是正面的。
AI 好像能够看到文章背后的意图，也能够注意到我个人的经历，以及我想通过文章表达的一些想法。
这给了我一点鼓励。
到了我这个年纪，我并不是想成为一个著名的科技作家。
我只是一个仍然喜欢学习的 Grandpa。
我开始接触 AI，是因为好奇。
后来，好奇变成了尝试。
尝试变成了写作。
而写作渐渐成为我每天学习旅程的一部分。
有时候我也会问自己：
“我写的这些东西，真的有人觉得有用吗？”
所以，当 AI 对我的文章作出一些积极的分析时，我确实感到了一点鼓励。
当然，我不会因为 AI 说几句好话，就认为自己的文章篇篇都很精彩。
当然不是。
有些文章写得比较好。
有些文章可能太长。
有些观点可能很普通。
甚至有些看法，我以后可能会发现是错的。
但这不是重点。
重点是：
AI 把我的思想反射回来，让我有机会从另一个角度重新看自己。
这让我更想继续写下去。
AI 对我来说已经不只是一个写作工具
今晚的体验也让我想到，我们和 AI 的关系正在发生很大的变化。
刚开始接触 AI 的时候，我把它看成一种工具。
问问题。
得到答案。
写文章。
修改文章。
翻译。
制作图片。
这些已经非常令人惊叹。
但是现在，AI 可以扮演另外一种角色。
它可以成为一个思考上的伙伴。
当然，我并不是说 AI 可以代替人类思考。
我更愿意把它看成一个陪伴我们思考的伙伴。
我写下一些东西。
AI 从另一个角度去理解。
然后我再回头看自己的文章。
有时候，这第二次观看，反而比第一次更有价值。
对于我这个已经八十岁的老人来说，这尤其有意思。
我不需要完全理解 AI 背后的所有技术。
我只需要保持足够的好奇心，然后问自己：
“这个功能是什么？让我试试看。”
男声和女声的对话，更增加了趣味
我特别喜欢 AI Playback 的对话形式。
如果只有一个 AI 声音，感觉比较像是在听有声书。
但是两个声音互相讨论的时候，感觉完全不同。
一个声音可能强调一个观点。
另一个声音可能从不同角度去看。
他们互相回应。
互相补充。
有时候甚至会提出不同的看法。
于是，我的博客文章不再只是一个静静躺在网页上的文字页面。
它变成了一场对话的起点。
这和重新阅读同一篇文章，是完全不同的体验。
也许，这正是 AI 正在带给我们的一个新方向。
未来的“阅读”，未必永远只是阅读。
有时候，我们也可以听 AI 讨论我们刚刚读过的东西。
我的旧文章好像重新活了起来
还有一个意想不到的收获。
听这些过去写的文章，让我重新想起了几星期前的自己。
我们写完一篇文章、发表以后，很容易就忘记它。
因为我们的脑子已经开始思考下一篇文章了。
可是 AI Playback 给了这些旧文章第二次生命。
一些我差不多已经忘记的想法，又重新回到了我的脑海里。
我听到 AI 从另一个角度讨论自己的经历。
然后，我自己也开始重新思考。
有一点很有意思：
AI 帮助我重新发现自己的文章。
这可能是我开始使用 AI 的时候，完全没有想到的事情。
八十岁的 Grandpa，仍然是一个学生
也许这是我最喜欢的部分。
我还在学习。
我从来没有想过要假装自己是 AI 专家。
AI 的发展实在太快了。
每隔几天，我似乎都会发现一个新的功能、新的工具或者新的可能性。
有时候我一看就明白。
有时候需要花时间摸索。
有时候会犯错误。
而有时候，就像今晚一样，我会在不经意之间发现一些让我感到惊喜的东西。
这就是学习的乐趣。
到了八十岁，我当然可以说：
“科技变化得太快了，我已经不需要学这些东西了。”
但是我选择了另外一种态度：
“这是什么？让我试试看。”
这个小小的改变，让我的晚年生活变得非常有趣。
AI 不一定要取代我们
今晚的体验也再次让我想到：
我不希望 AI 取代我的声音。
我希望 AI 帮助我发现自己声音的更多可能性。
思想是我的。
记忆是我的。
经历是我的。
故事是我的。
AI 可以帮助我整理、分析、挑战、解释、翻译和呈现这些内容。
现在，它甚至可以和我写下来的思想进行“讨论”。
这真的很奇妙。
AI 最有意思的地方，并不只是它能够替我们创造东西。
有时候，更重要的是：
它能够让我们重新看见自己已经创造出来的东西。
给 Grandpa 的一点鼓励
今晚这个小小的实验，带给我的不只是娱乐。
它给了我一点鼓励。
我还在自己的学习旅程上。
我还在写作。
我还在尝试 AI。
我还在好奇。
也许这样就已经足够了。
我不需要成为 AI 专家。
我也不需要完全理解每一种新科技。
我只是希望自己一直保持好奇，一直向前走。
所以，今晚吃完晚饭以后，这个八十岁的 Grandpa 坐下来，听两个 AI 声音讨论自己写过的博客文章。
我笑了。
我听着。
我思考着。
同时，我又学到了新的东西。
也许 AI 真正神奇的地方，并不总是它能够为我们创造什么。
有时候，它真正神奇的地方，是帮助我们重新看见自己。
明天，这个 Grandpa 大概又会对另外一个东西产生好奇。
那么，就继续走吧。
这就是我的 AI 学习旅程。
而我仍然很享受这段旅程。 🎧🤖👴
I Discovered a New AI SEO Tool — But I Decided Not to Change Course
This morning, I stumbled upon a YouTube video titled “ChatGPT Desktop (Codex) + Google Search Console MCP = SEO Superpowers.”
It caught my attention.
The video showed how ChatGPT could work with Google Search Console through an MCP connection and potentially make SEO analysis much more powerful.
For a moment, I thought:
“Should I be doing this too?”
After all, I have been spending quite a bit of time looking at my blog traffic and trying to understand what is really happening on AI Digest 123.
So I asked my AI companion to compare this new approach with the way we have been working with Google Analytics.
The answer was interesting.
Analytics Tells Me What Happened
Our existing approach has been quite simple.
I look at my Google Analytics numbers and bring them into our conversation.
Then we discuss them.
For example, during August I saw a major increase in traffic compared with July. We looked at sessions, users, engagement, countries, landing pages and some unusual traffic patterns.
The numbers don't automatically tell me everything.
But when I discuss them with ChatGPT, we can ask:
What does this actually mean?
That is the part I find valuable.
Search Console Would Tell Me Something Different
Google Search Console could give me another piece of the puzzle.
Instead of mainly asking:
“What happened after people arrived at my blog?”
I could ask:
“What were people searching for before they arrived?”
Search Console can show things such as search queries, impressions, clicks, CTR and average position.
Combined with ChatGPT, that could potentially become a very powerful SEO research system.
I can imagine asking:
“Which of my articles get lots of Google impressions but very few clicks?”
Or:
“Which articles are ranking around positions 5–20 and might be worth improving?”
That is certainly interesting.
Maybe one day I will use it.
But Here Is My Decision
After thinking about it, I decided:
I'm staying with the existing course.
Why?
Because I am already happy with what we are doing.
I don't want AI Digest 123 to become a laboratory where I constantly install another tool, connect another system and learn another complicated workflow.
I want to write.
I want to experiment.
I want to understand what is happening with my readers.
And I want to use AI to help me think more clearly.
That is enough for me right now.
Not Every New AI Tool Needs to Be Used
This is something I am gradually learning.
Every day there seems to be another AI tool, another model, another plugin, another MCP connection or another “AI superpower.”
It is easy to feel that if you don't adopt the latest technology, you are falling behind.
But perhaps that isn't true.
Sometimes the smarter decision is simply:
“That's interesting. I'll keep it in mind, but I don't need it yet.”
That is what I am doing with Google Search Console.
Keep the Simple System That Works
For now, my system is straightforward:
Google Analytics → ChatGPT → discussion → decision → action
The numbers give me the information.
ChatGPT helps me interpret the information.
And I make the final decision.
I like that arrangement.
It feels less like operating a complicated SEO machine and more like having a conversation with a knowledgeable companion.
And perhaps that is what I really value about using AI.
It isn't necessarily about having the most advanced setup.
It is about having the right setup for me.
Maybe Later
I am not saying I will never use Google Search Console.
Perhaps later, when I have a specific SEO question that Google Analytics cannot answer, I will give it a try.
By then I will have a reason to use it rather than simply using it because somebody on YouTube called it an “SEO superpower.”
For now, I am comfortable with where I am.
I discovered something new. I investigated it. I understood what it could do. And then I decided not to change.
Sometimes staying on course is a decision too.
And for this old grandfather blogger, that is perfectly fine.
Grandpa's AI lesson for today:
You don't have to chase every new technology. Find what works for you, understand it well, and keep moving forward.
That is the course I intend to stay on.
What My August Blog Traffic Really Tells Me
I checked my Google Analytics again today, and the August numbers gave me something to think about.
At first glance, the results look impressive. Compared with July, my blog had 656 active users in August, up 166.7% from 246. The engagement rate jumped from 19.5% to 61.7%, while average session duration increased from about 5 seconds to 26 seconds.
Those are big improvements.
But I don't want to get carried away.
More visitors, but are they real readers?
The biggest question is not how many people visited. It is whether they actually read something.
The improvement from 5 seconds to 26 seconds is encouraging. It suggests that August visitors were considerably more engaged with my pages than July visitors.
Several countries even showed a 100% engagement rate.
That sounds wonderful—but I have to be careful. Some of those countries had only one, two, or a handful of visitors. A 100% engagement rate with one visitor doesn't tell me very much.
So I will take the result as a positive signal, not as proof that I have suddenly become a blogging superstar.
Singapore surprised me
One of the most interesting findings was the geographic distribution.
Singapore accounted for 434 active users, far more than any other identified city. Visitors also came from Suzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Dhaka and other cities in Asia.
Why Singapore?
I don't really know.
Google Analytics can sometimes have difficulty identifying the true origin of traffic, and VPNs, corporate networks, privacy settings and other factors can affect geographic reporting.
So I won't invent an explanation.
I'll simply keep watching.
If Singapore continues to appear at the top in September and October, then perhaps there really is something interesting happening there.
My blogging articles are attracting readers
Another finding caught my attention.
Some of my most popular landing pages were not my general AI articles. They were articles about Blogger, blogging and subscribing to a blog.
For example, my "Never Miss a Post — Subscribe to My Blog" page had 22 active users, while my Blogger and blogging label pages each had 20.
My recent article reviewing the blog with Google Analytics also appeared among the leading landing pages.
That tells me something useful.
Perhaps readers are not only interested in artificial intelligence. Some are interested in blogging itself—how to build a blog, how to use Blogger, how to get subscribers and how to understand traffic.
That gives me another direction to explore.
And then there is "Direct"
This is probably the most mysterious part of my August report.
Google Analytics shows 641 active users as Direct / None.
That is the overwhelming majority of my traffic in this particular report.
But "Direct" does not necessarily mean that 641 people typed my web address into their browsers.
It can include bookmarks, email, messaging apps, private sharing and visits where Google cannot identify the original source.
So I won't claim that I suddenly have hundreds of loyal readers coming directly to my blog every day.
I simply don't know.
And sometimes the honest answer in blogging is:
I don't know.
What should I do next?
Probably nothing dramatic.
I've recently cleaned up my blog design and removed some unnecessary clutter from the sidebar. I like the new, lighter look.
I'm not going to change everything just because one month of Google Analytics produced some surprising numbers.
Instead, I'll continue doing what I enjoy:
Write. Experiment. Observe. Learn. Repeat.
For September, I'll pay particular attention to active users, engagement rate, average engagement time, landing pages, geographic traffic and traffic sources.
I don't need millions of visitors.
I'd rather have a smaller number of people who actually stop, read something, think about it and perhaps come back another day.
My August lesson
The most encouraging thing about these numbers isn't the 166.7% increase in visitors.
It is the improvement in engagement.
People appear to be spending more time with my content than they did in July.
For an 80-year-old blogger who is still learning about Google Analytics, AI and the strange world of internet traffic, that's good enough news for me.
I'll keep writing—and let the numbers tell their story.
One month at a time.
Hashtags
#Blogging #GoogleAnalytics #BlogTraffic #Blogger #BloggingJourney #WebsiteAnalytics #ContentCreation #AI123 #GrandpaBlogger #Analytics #DigitalLife #BloggingTips
我的八月份博客流量告诉了我什么？
今天我又看了一次 Google Analytics。
八月份的数据，确实让我有点意外。
表面看来，成绩相当不错。八月份我的博客有 656 位活跃用户，比七月份的 246 人增加了 166.7%。
参与度也明显提高，由七月份的 19.5% 上升到 61.7%。
平均每次访问的时间，则由大约 5 秒增加到 26 秒，增幅超过四倍。
这些数字看起来很漂亮。
不过，我不想因为几个漂亮的数字就太兴奋。
人多了，但他们真的在看吗？
对我来说，博客最重要的问题，从来不只是有多少人进来。
更重要的是：
他们有没有真正看我的文章？
平均访问时间从5秒增加到26秒，这是一个令人鼓舞的变化。
至少说明，八月份来到博客的访客，比七月份更愿意停留一会儿。
有些国家甚至显示出 100%的参与度。
听起来非常棒。
可是我也必须冷静一点。
有些国家只有一两个访客。一个访客有参与行为，参与度自然就是100%。
所以，我不会把这个结果解释成：
“我的博客现在拥有全球100%的高参与度。”
那就有点自欺欺人了。
我把它看成一个积极的信号，而不是最终答案。
新加坡让我感到意外
八月份另一个很有趣的发现，是访客的地理分布。
Google Analytics 显示，新加坡有434位活跃用户，远远超过其他城市。
另外还有来自中国苏州、深圳、广州、中山，以及孟加拉国达卡等城市的访客。
为什么新加坡会这么突出？
老实说，我不知道。
Google Analytics 的地区数据并不一定永远准确。VPN、公司网络、隐私设置以及其他技术因素，都可能影响访客所在地的判断。
所以我不想为了讲一个漂亮的故事而随便猜测。
我会继续观察。
如果九月、十月新加坡仍然排在前面，那就值得进一步研究了。
原来大家也对“博客”有兴趣
另一个让我注意到的现象，是我的热门入口页面。
它们并不全是人工智能文章。
一些表现比较好的页面，反而是关于 Blogger、博客以及订阅博客 的内容。
例如：
“Never Miss a Post — Subscribe to My Blog” 有22位活跃用户。
Blogger 标签页和 blogging 标签页各有20位活跃用户。
我最近写的 Google Analytics 博客流量分析文章，也已经进入热门入口页面。
这给了我一个很有意思的提示。
也许我的读者不只是对 AI 感兴趣。
他们也可能对：
怎样写博客、怎样使用 Blogger、怎样获得订阅者，以及怎样看懂博客流量数据
感兴趣。
这可能会成为我以后继续写作的一个方向。
最大的谜团：Direct Traffic
八月份还有一个数字让我特别困惑。
Google Analytics 显示：
641 位活跃用户来自 Direct / None。
这是绝大多数流量。
但“Direct”并不一定意味着641个人亲手输入了我的网址。
它可能包括书签、电子邮件、聊天软件、私人分享，以及 Google Analytics 无法识别来源的访问。
所以，我不会说：
“我现在已经有641个忠实读者每天直接进入我的博客。”
我没有证据证明这一点。
有时候，做博客最诚实的答案就是：
我不知道。
我认为这没有什么不好。
下一步，我不会急着改变博客
最近我已经把博客的设计重新整理了一下，也把侧栏一些不必要的东西删掉。
现在的博客比较清爽，我自己很喜欢。
所以，我不会因为一个月的 Analytics 数据出现了一些变化，就马上把整个博客重新改造一次。
我想继续做一件很简单的事情：
写作、尝试、观察、学习，然后继续写。
九月份，我会继续观察几个主要指标：
活跃用户
参与度
平均访问时间
热门入口页面
国家和城市
流量来源
这些数据已经足够让我了解博客的发展方向。
我并不需要几百万访客。
如果有一些读者愿意停下来，认真读我的文章，想一想，然后有一天再回来看看，我已经很满足了。
八月份给我的一个启示
这次最令我高兴的，并不是访客增加了166.7%。
真正让我感到鼓舞的，是参与度和访问时间明显提高了。
这至少说明，八月份的访客似乎比七月份更愿意在我的博客里停留。
对于一个已经80岁的博客作者来说，还在学习 Google Analytics、人工智能，以及这个越来越复杂的互联网世界，这已经是一个不错的消息。
我会继续写。
至于数字到底会怎样发展？
让它们自己说话吧。
一个月一个月地看。
慢慢来。
这也是我的博客之路。
AI Is Here. Are We Ready for What Comes Next?
I have been thinking about AI lately.
The more I use it, the more I feel that AI is no longer something coming in the future.
AI is already here.
And I have a feeling that it is going to divide people in ways we have not fully understood yet.
At first, I see two broad groups.
There are people who believe in AI—or at least accept that it is here—and are willing to use it.
Then there are people who are afraid of AI, don't trust it, or simply don't want to have anything to do with it.
I can understand both sides.
But I wonder what will happen over the next five or ten years.
The people who use AI
Those who learn to work with AI may gradually gain an advantage.
It doesn't necessarily mean they are smarter.
They may simply have a very powerful assistant beside them.
AI can help them research, write, translate, learn, analyze information, create images and videos, solve problems and explore ideas.
The interesting thing is that the advantage can compound.
Use AI → learn more → become more productive → discover more possibilities → use AI even better.
Eventually, the difference between an AI user and a non-user could become quite significant.
And perhaps people won't actually be replaced by AI.
They may be replaced by people who know how to use AI.
That is a much more uncomfortable thought.
What about people who refuse to use AI?
I don't blame people who are cautious.
There are legitimate reasons to be concerned.
AI can make mistakes. It can produce convincing nonsense. It can be misused. And we still don't fully understand where this technology is taking us.
But completely refusing to learn about AI may become a problem.
Imagine someone ten years from now saying:
"I don't use AI. I don't believe in it."
That might be like saying today:
"I don't use the internet."
You can probably survive without it.
But you may find yourself increasingly left behind.
Then there is another group
Unfortunately, not everyone will use AI for good purposes.
Some people will use it to cheat, deceive and make money dishonestly.
AI can make fraud and misinformation much easier to produce and distribute.
A dishonest person with a powerful AI assistant can potentially accomplish far more than before.
The technology doesn't know whether its user is honest or dishonest.
It simply amplifies the user's ability.
A good person can use AI to create.
A dishonest person can use AI to manipulate.
That is something we should not underestimate.
And then there is the military
There is an even bigger concern.
Governments and militaries around the world are developing AI capabilities.
AI could become increasingly important in intelligence, cybersecurity, surveillance, military planning and autonomous systems.
And once countries believe that their competitors are moving ahead, there will be tremendous pressure to move even faster.
Nobody wants to be the country that falls behind.
This creates another kind of AI race.
And that one worries me more than someone using ChatGPT to write an email.
Is AI becoming Frankenstein's monster?
This brings me to Frankenstein.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was not simply a story about a monster.
It was also a story about human beings creating something powerful without fully understanding the consequences.
That is why I think the Frankenstein comparison is so interesting when we talk about AI.
Perhaps AI itself isn't the monster.
Perhaps the monster is what happens when human technological power grows faster than human wisdom.
We are creating incredibly powerful tools.
But are our laws ready?
Are our schools ready?
Are our politicians ready?
Are our businesses ready?
Are ordinary people ready?
I'm not sure.
In fact, I think the honest answer is no.
The real division may be different
Perhaps the future won't simply divide us into people who use AI and people who don't.
It may divide us into:
People who use AI wisely and people who use it carelessly.
And perhaps there will be another division:
People who control AI and people who become controlled by AI.
That second possibility deserves serious thought.
If we allow AI to do all our thinking, writing, researching and decision-making, we may become more efficient—but not necessarily wiser.
I don't want that.
I enjoy using AI precisely because it gives me another mind to talk to.
But I still want to think for myself.
I question it. I disagree with it. Sometimes I tell it that I think it is wrong.
That conversation is important.
AI should be a companion and assistant, not a replacement for our own judgment.
Are we ready?
Probably not.
But I don't think the answer is to run away from AI.
The answer is to learn.
Learn what AI can do.
Learn what it cannot do.
Learn when to trust it.
Learn when to question it.
And, most importantly, learn how to remain human while using increasingly intelligent machines.
I am an 80-year-old grandfather, not an AI scientist.
But perhaps that gives me a slightly different perspective.
I don't know where this AI journey will end.
Nobody does.
But I do know one thing:
AI is here.
We can fear it.
We can ignore it.
We can misuse it.
Or we can learn to live with it responsibly.
The technology may become extraordinarily powerful.
The real test will be whether human wisdom grows fast enough to keep up with it.
Perhaps that is the real Frankenstein story we are writing today.
Hashtags
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIEthics #AISafety #FutureOfAI #AIandSociety #HumanityAndAI #AIRevolution #Technology #Frankenstein #DigitalFuture #ResponsibleAI #GrandpaJourney #AI123
AI 已经来了：我们准备好迎接它了吗？
最近，我一直在想一个问题。
AI 已经不再是一个遥远的未来。
AI 已经来了。
而且我有一种感觉，随着 AI 越来越深入我们的生活，人类社会可能会出现一些新的分化。
最简单的分法，我首先想到两类人。
一类是相信 AI、接受 AI，并且愿意学习使用 AI 的人。
另一类是害怕 AI、不信任 AI，或者干脆拒绝使用 AI 的人。
我可以理解这两种态度。
但是，我也开始想：未来五年、十年之后，这两群人的差距会不会越来越大？
使用 AI 的人
愿意学习使用 AI 的人，很可能会逐渐获得一些优势。
这并不一定表示他们比别人聪明。
他们只是多了一个非常强大的助手。
AI 可以帮助我们寻找资料、写文章、翻译、学习、分析资料、制作图片和视频、解决问题，也可以帮助我们产生新的想法。
更有意思的是，这种优势可能会不断累积。
使用 AI → 学得更多 → 做事更有效率 → 发现更多可能 → 更会使用 AI。
这样下去，AI 用户和完全不用 AI 的人的差距，可能会越来越明显。
所以，也许未来人们并不是直接被 AI 淘汰。
而是被懂得使用 AI 的人淘汰。
这个想法其实更值得我们认真面对。
那些不愿意使用 AI 的人呢？
我不会责怪那些对 AI 保持警惕的人。
他们有充分的理由担心。
AI 会犯错误，会产生看起来很有道理、其实完全错误的内容，也可能被人滥用。
我们甚至还没有完全弄清楚 AI 最终会把人类带到哪里。
但是，如果完全拒绝了解 AI，未来可能也会成为一种问题。
想象一下，十年以后还有人说：
“我不用 AI，我不相信 AI。”
这会不会有点像今天有人说：
“我不用互联网。”
当然，你还是可以生活。
但是，你可能会发现自己越来越跟不上这个社会。
还有另外一群人
更值得担心的是，并不是所有人都会用 AI 做好事。
有人会利用 AI 欺骗、作弊、诈骗，甚至利用 AI 来赚钱。
AI 可以让制造假消息、假图片、假声音和各种骗人的内容变得更加容易。
一个有强大 AI 助手的坏人，可能比过去一个普通的坏人拥有大得多的影响力。
AI 本身并不知道使用它的人是好人还是坏人。
它只是把人的能力放大。
好人可以用 AI 创造。
坏人也可以用 AI 操纵别人。
这可能是我们必须认真面对的问题。
然后还有军方
还有一个更大的问题。
世界各国的政府和军方也在发展 AI 能力。
AI 将来可能越来越多地应用在情报、网络安全、监控、军事计划以及自动化武器系统等领域。
而一旦一个国家认为竞争对手正在领先，它就会有很大的压力继续加速。
没有哪个国家愿意在这场竞争中落后。
于是，AI 可能形成另一种新的军备竞赛。
老实说，这比有人用 ChatGPT 帮忙写一封电子邮件，更让我担心。
AI 会不会成为 Frankenstein 的怪物？
这让我想起了 Frankenstein（弗兰肯斯坦）的故事。
Mary Shelley 写的 Frankenstein，并不只是一个关于“怪物”的故事。
它其实也是一个关于人类创造出强大事物，却没有完全理解其后果的故事。
所以，我觉得把 Frankenstein 用来比喻今天的 AI，很有意思。
也许 AI 本身并不是那个怪物。
真正可怕的，是人类的科技力量发展得太快，而人类的智慧、责任感和制度却没有跟上。
我们正在创造越来越强大的工具。
但是，我们的法律准备好了吗？
我们的学校准备好了吗？
我们的政治制度准备好了吗？
我们的企业准备好了吗？
普通人准备好了吗？
我不太确定。
老实说，我认为答案可能是：
还没有。
真正的分化可能不是“用 AI”与“不用 AI”
也许未来人类社会真正的分化，不只是：
使用 AI 的人 vs. 不使用 AI 的人。
而可能是：
懂得正确使用 AI 的人 vs. 不懂得正确使用 AI 的人。
还有一种更加值得我们警惕的分化：
控制 AI 的人 vs. 被 AI 控制的人。
后面这一点让我特别值得思考。
如果我们把所有思考、写作、研究和决定都交给 AI，我们可能会变得更加有效率。
但是，我们不一定会变得更加有智慧。
我不希望这样。
我喜欢使用 AI，正因为它可以成为我的另一个思考伙伴。
但是我仍然希望自己思考。
我会质疑它，也会不同意它。
有时候，我甚至会告诉它：
“我认为你错了。”
我觉得这种人与 AI 之间的交流非常重要。
AI 应该是我们的助手和伙伴，而不是取代我们自己的判断力。
我们准备好了吗？
也许还没有。
但是，我也不认为答案是逃避 AI。
答案应该是：
学习。
学习 AI 能做什么。
学习 AI 不能做什么。
学习什么时候可以相信它。
学习什么时候必须质疑它。
更重要的是，学习如何在使用越来越聪明的机器时，仍然保持我们自己的人性。
我只是一个 80 岁的退休爷爷，并不是 AI 科学家。
但是，也许正因为如此，我看 AI 的角度有一点不同。
我不知道这条 AI 之路最后会走到哪里。
其实没有人知道。
但是有一点我很确定：
AI 已经来了。
我们可以害怕它。
可以忽视它。
可以滥用它。
也可以学习如何负责任地与它一起生活。
AI 可能会变得非常强大。
真正的考验是：
人类的智慧，能不能成长得足够快，跟得上自己创造出来的 AI？
也许，这才是我们今天正在写下的真正的 Frankenstein 故事。
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)