Artificial intelligence isn't a gimmick; it's a potent productivity booster

Those who master artificial intelligence will have a huge advantage in the years to come. Start experimenting with it and experience the potential it has to bring knowledge to your fingertips,

- Peter Hughes.

Have you noticed the sudden appearance of a small, round icon on your phone? I’ve always been suspicious that these digital intruders might carry viruses, so I immediately remove them. But, try as I might, I couldn’t get rid of this one. It sat there, staring at me every time I sent a WhatsApp message!

A few days later, while booting up my PC one morning, there was another similar icon intruding. This time it was attached to the taskbar at the bottom of my screen. While trying to get rid of it, my digitally savvy son happened to stop by and enlightened me.

“The blue ring with a touch of pink in it,” he said, “is the Meta artificial intelligence [AI] model logo. Since WhatsApp and Meta belong to the same company, they simply plugged Meta AI into all WhatsApp users’ phones.”

“The multicolored ring with a break in it is the logo of the Copilot AI model, developed by Microsoft. They followed WhatsApp’s example and added it to any PC with their software.

“Don’t uninstall them; start experimenting with them,” my son urged me. He went on to suggest I start with ChatGPT, which was the first and is still the largest AI model.

Thus began my personal journey into the fascinating world of generative AI.

As you might have seen in the 7 February 2025 issue of