012 What an algorithm knows.
012 What an algorithm knows.
The arrival of Seattle's Asian immigrants.
I’ve led design of software products built on machine learning models before. Namely, the chart recommendation engine for Microsoft Excel and the table recognition feature in Office Lens.
Machine learning models are what artificial intelligence systems are made of, and in case you haven’t heard, DALL-E and ChatGPT are two of the latest artificial intelligence technologies predicted to revolutionize productivity software.1
Who cares! You say. What does this have to do with food? Since I’ve been preoccupied with our house construction the past couple of months and too busy to write lately, I thought I’d use ChatGPT to help me pen and illustrate2 this newsletter.
Where did we leave off again? Oh, yeah.
I’ll also share a timeline of the staggered arrival of Seattle’s Asian populations. When they came here and why. #stopasianhate
But first, what is ChatGPT? It’s a chat bot built on LLMs (Large Language Models), released in November by OpenAI, a startup that just received billions in funding from Microsoft. You can talk to it like a human and it answers like one. Almost.3
I asked it to show me a timeline of the arrival of Asian people in Seattle. Twice. Because it creates original answers after scanning available databases, generating unique responses every time you click “Regenerate”. Below is my first try (1) and the second (2):
1
1850s: The first recorded Asian immigrants arrived in Seattle in the 1850s, including Chinese laborers who worked on the transcontinental railroad and in the city's mining and fishing industries.
2
1850s-1860s: The first Asian immigrants to Seattle were Chinese workers who arrived to work on the transcontinental railroad.
1
1880s: The arrival of large numbers of Chinese immigrants in Seattle sparked anti-Asian sentiment and racism, leading to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which restricted Chinese immigration for 10 years.
2
1880s: The arrival of Japanese immigrants increased as they came to work in Seattle's fishing and agricultural industries.
1
1900s: Despite the Chinese Exclusion Act, Seattle's Asian community continued to grow, with Japanese, Filipino, and Korean immigrants arriving in the city in significant numbers.
2
1907: The passage of the “Gentlemen's Agreement” limited Japanese immigration to the United States, leading to a decrease in the number of Japanese people coming to Seattle.
1
1920s: The passage of the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act severely restricted immigration from Asia and Europe, slowing the growth of Seattle's Asian community for several decades.
2
1910s-1920s: Filipino immigrants arrived in Seattle to work in the fishing industry and on local farms.
1
1940s-1960s: After World War II, immigration restrictions were lifted, and Seattle's Asian community experienced a resurgence, with new arrivals from Japan, China, the Philippines, and other countries.
2
1943: The passage of the Magnuson Act ended the Chinese Exclusion Act and allowed Chinese immigrants to come to the United States.
1
1970s-1980s: Seattle's Asian community continued to grow and diversify, with the arrival of refugees from Southeast Asia following the Vietnam War, and new waves of immigration from countries such as Taiwan and Hong Kong.
2
1960s-1970s: Seattle saw an influx of refugees and immigrants from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, following the end of the Vietnam War.
1
1990s-Present: Seattle's Asian community has continued to thrive and grow, with a diverse mix of cultures, languages, and cuisines, and a strong presence in many different aspects of the city's social, cultural, and economic life.
2
1980s-1990s: Seattle's Asian-American population continued to grow as immigrants from India, Pakistan, and other countries arrived in the city.
1
Today, Seattle has one of the largest Asian populations of any city in the United States, and its Asian community continues to play a vital role in shaping the city's history and culture.
2
Today, Seattle is home to a diverse Asian-American community, with a significant population of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Indian people, among others. The city's vibrant Asian-American community has made a significant impact on Seattle's culture, economy, and culinary scene.
Not bad, right? I mean, I guess. It’s interesting how running it twice provided new snippets of information. And I assume it’s accurate because…because why? Because it was generated by a computer? But even if it isn’t completely accurate, it does provide a starting point, a page that’s not blank, a block on the track from which to push my pen and start actually researching (because these algorithms often aren’t right) and then writing.
Next Up
Of course I’ll be delving into this timeline, verifying all this stuff a computer generated. Because yeah. Artificial intelligence can only be trusted for accuracy in tightly scoped use cases.4
Food is about dialogue. Have you tried ChatGPT? It generates recipes too, you know.
I experienced this at work back in 2016-ish when Microsoft leadership pivoted entire teams to focus on artificial intelligence initiatives.
What the hell did the algorithm do to their faces?