OPINION

Save this letter for next time

Re: "Drop in air," (BP, Jan 28) and "Work from home, BMA urges," (BP, Jan 26).

For those who aren't familiar with Thailand's regular battles with toxic pollution caused by ineffective public transport, wanton rubbish burning and industrial scale pollution caused by large agricultural conglomerates, it goes something like this:

1. Various government bodies "express their concern" (this one has already been done).

2. Committees are formed across the country which we are promised will "address the problem".

3. Plans are "put in place".

4. Er.....

5. That's it.

Dear editor, you can save this letter and use it every year to save typing.

AI gets more interesting

Re: "Trying out ChatGPT," (PostBag, Jan 28).

Kudos to reader Samuel Wright for giving the new chatbot a spin. Anyone the least bit interested in technology should familiarise themselves with AI-generative tools, in my opinion, and the sooner the better. (Don't get too carried away; the trial version only allows 300 interactions.)

My first conversations with ChatGPT were disappointing, or at least a bit ego-deflating. The bot knew nothing about me personally. Neither did it recognise the title of the book I've published nor the name of my original music project.

But my darling new granddaughter, just nine months old, knows nothing of those things either. Indeed, Madilyn Lily will learn about her grandfather over time, as will ChatGPT and its AI siblings. AI tools already are teaching us how to ask better questions, and how to phrase queries using specific language to achieve more accurate results.

ChatGPT and I have had remarkable dialogues on how to reduce gun violence in the US; the differences between addiction and dependence; defining bands of "the Seattle sound" and other topics. I even asked it to compose a 30-second radio commercial for a solar energy company, a task it handed quite ably, hitting all of the right buzz phrases.

These tools only have become recently available to the general population, and will continue to learn about everything. Already AI is generating a plethora of discussions in many sectors, not only education. One year from now? Five years? A generation? Who can say it won't be interesting to experience what happens next?

Get your facts straight

Re: "Hail the Tourist," (PostBag, Jan 28).

I am sure that Globetrotter knows that big foreign businesses such as McDonald's, KFC, Grab, Huawei, DTAC, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Apple, Google, Alibaba and dozens of others in Thailand or elsewhere in the world, including Spain or Portugal, legally transfer their profits out of the country. The shareholders and CEOs are the primary beneficiaries of such companies.

As far as I know, many Indian immigrants, especially those who came here a century ago, are Thai citizens and contribute heavily to the economy. Big companies, such as Indorama, Jaspal, Tata and many others, have contributed heavily to Thailand's economy. For example, Jaspal employs thousands of employees and does lots of philanthropic work.

It is simple. Immigrants in any country will work much harder to succeed than the natives who have become too comfortable with their lives or do not want to take complex jobs. Look carefully at those Toyota trucks filled with young Lao or Myanmar girls and boys. If you miss it, visit any of these places -- Patong, Patpong, Pattaya or Phuket. Good luck.

Falling asleep over here

Re: "Prayut sees debate as PR opportunity," (BP, Jan 27).

Every morning when I collect my paper, I sigh about anticipating Thai politics in predictable headlines concerning filibustering, cronyism and defections among those who delight in photo opportunities as well as corruption and so forth.

Surely there are other items that could be highlighted. Even the recent tragic aeroplane crash in Nepal was sidelined with a (my interpretation) "ho, hum, another one, not too bad really", akin to road accidents here.

And let's not forget the Sunday edition with huge headlines blaring about farmer subsidies in Isan (riveting) not to mention the mourned loss of inter alia, Alan Dawson's section and the Biggs column.

I will refrain from the indignities inflicted on the "Amuse" page and its lack of lustre.