Artificial intelligence vs natural stupidity

What is this chat jee-bee thing?” asked the little woman, without any preamble.

- K.C. VERMA

Bleary eyed as I usually am early in the morning, I was in no mood to be quizzed. But the little woman has this endearing habit of reading the newspapers while sipping her morning tea and sharing tidbits about miscellaneous disasters. She believes that after this early battle inoculation, one can easily shrug off whatever slings and arrows outrageous fortune hurls at us later in the day.

“Eh?” said I. “Chat is what you get in Bengali Market, New Delhi. If you want really good papri-chaat, I recommend the lanes of Chandni Chowk.”

“Hello stupid! Wake up! I said Chat gee-pee-tea, not Chaat!”

“Oh, that is an AI thing. You won't understand it,” I said dismissively, pouring a cup of tea for myself. After a few sips, I felt quite fortified to handle any slings and arrows that might be hurled by the missus. Okay, maybe I was not fortified; but I certainly felt twentified enough.

“Is it a thing? Or a person or what? Some girls at the kitty party said that it is the new demon that has been let loose on humanity. One girl said that Modi ji had gone to Paris to tame this beast.”

I was surprised to hear that my wife's kitty group discusses topics like AI. I was even more surprised to hear that the babushkas refer to themselves as girls. Well, so long as they don’t fancy themselves to be nubile nymphs, I said to myself. Aloud I asked, “Oh! And what else did the girls say?”