Our local political committee met today and it was good. Not good-good, but good as in they know what's up. They don't have a plan (yet), they're concerned, angry, even scared (how could they not be?), but they're motivated and want to learn and they want to organize. These are the legit Salt of the Earth too. Retirees, nurses, clerks, nonprofit workers. And they bring me joy and hope.

I got a ChatGPT account a few weeks back. The motivation was not one I expected:

Earlier this year, I was struggling to settle my insurance claim for last June's hit-and-run collision. I spoke with a few lawyers. They were courteous and gave me a few tips, but ultimately declined to take my case. The expected payouts would be too small. So pro se it was.

Then I realized that both my insurance and the third-party adjuster were using generative AI to handle my claim. Their replies came back too quick, too similar. So I realized I had to step up my game.

I started feeding the system my policy and police report, then some of the correspondence, looking for leverage. It identified a few of leads. Some were hallucinations, but a couple were strong enough to file complaints with California Department of Insurance.

Their mistakes, and the clarity the system provided was enough to put the likely settlement into a range where lawyers became interested. So now I hope I can hand off everything to a professional.

So I guess the lawyers came out ahead, but if it helps close this chapter, I'm all for it.

Very cool: GrapheneOS lets me use my phone as a webcam directly. Good stuff.