AI, AI, Oh...

As the dewy cloud rose on the 23rd September, so did the anticipation of 18 wondrous misfits, until now wandering the streets living in their minds, now bound by a shared purpose and a new chapter. Each spent the night before scouring Slack like anxiety-ridden detectives. Figuring out who's who? And, what do they bring that I don’t? The competition is fierce, the embers glistening on a year destined to burn bright. 

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We entered the studio, two by two, 18 in total, as we assumed. Except there was one more. An imposing figure that we had merely heard whispers about during the summer. They introduced themselves as AI. Cool name, bold going for just the initials on day one, some real F. Scott Fitzgerald or J.R.R. Tolkien energy. 

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They have certainly shown up, puffing their chest out, towering over us with a shadow I felt could only be rivalled by Shaquille O’Neal, and quickly becoming the name on everyone's lips. As the hours rolled on, it became clear the rumours were true…

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They knew everything about everything, and AI wants to let you know it. A real walking (albeit virtually) Encyclopedia, though to my pleasure they threw in a couple of random ill-informed stats like a Question Time big-wig that we had to fact check. Take that, smarty-pants! 

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They are constantly on, only rarely taking time to process things, with the enthusiasm of a day one intern (no sign of coffee’s mind), offering up a path to get everyone over the line before we even had a chance to finish our sentences. Annoyingly, helpful. 

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AI would be wicked at Pictionary. I saw them do a Renaissance painting of Ed Miliband eating a Tuna Melt in the Colosseum earlier in 5.2 seconds. I barely had time to pick up my Crayola. I mean, we did have to pay them to do it, but it was impressive nevertheless, especially when you don't have hands. 

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They also clearly have the eye of Marc, the teacher’s pet and prodigy rolled into one. We’ve barely begun, and it’s becoming a one-horse race. But we’ll keep fighting for the spotlight; little does AI know that, like a burgeoning street magician, we have some cards up our sleeve. After all, these dealers hold the cards. But, until we show them, we’ll be riding the coattails of our new friend, or was it a fluffy bunny tail, or badger-sized millipede, who knows, it's constantly changing. 

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And here we are, trying to swallow all of this - as much to digest as a pelican taking down a particularly curvy carp - concerning our new digital nomad buddy. But credit where it’s due, they are fascinating, and I’ll be gunning for their attention as the year progresses. In a quest to find a partner, they might just be the answer. But we shall see, there were some amazing badges done on Friday, good luck trying to press the lever AI, you pumped up little genius. 

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