People + AI — We Are Becoming Bilingual

 I watched the Singaporean AI series again today.

This time, the focus was on AI applications in China. I have watched quite a few AI videos, but something about this one made me stop and think.

AI in China is not simply something people talk about on a computer screen.

It is becoming part of everyday life.

You see AI in transportation, airports, taxis, streetcars, factories, hospitals, farms, computers, home appliances and many other places. In some cases, people may not even realize that AI is working quietly behind the scenes.

That gave me an interesting thought:

People are beginning to live in AI, while AI is becoming embedded in people's lives.

AI is moving from the screen into the real world

When I first started learning about AI, I thought of it mainly as something I could talk to.

I type a question.

AI gives me an answer.

I ask it to write something.

AI helps me write.

That was already impressive to me as an 80+ learner.

But the bigger story is what happens when AI leaves the computer screen.

Imagine an airport where AI helps manage passengers and flights. A transportation system where AI helps coordinate traffic. A factory where machines and AI work together. A farm where sensors and intelligent systems help farmers decide when to water or harvest crops.

Then think about the home.

Your appliances, television, telephone, security system and other devices may increasingly understand what you want and respond intelligently.

AI is no longer just an application.

AI is becoming infrastructure.

“Bilingual” takes on a new meaning

The Singaporean speaker used an idea that I found particularly interesting: people need to become bilingual.

I don't mean English and Chinese.

I mean people skills + AI skills.

For the next generation, being able to communicate with other people will still be extremely important. So will judgment, creativity, empathy, common sense, leadership and experience.

But now there is another language to learn:

AI.

We need to know how to ask AI a good question.

We need to know how to check its answer.

We need to explain what we actually want.

And perhaps most importantly, we need to know when not to follow AI blindly.

That is what I call becoming AI-bilingual.

What about us seniors?

Here is where I think the story becomes particularly interesting.

I am 80+.

I am certainly not trying to become an AI engineer.

I simply want to understand enough AI to make my everyday life better.

That is why I keep saying:

No Tech Stress. Just Results.

I use AI to help me write my blog posts, understand new technology, organize ideas and explore subjects that I might otherwise find difficult.

But AI does not replace my experience.

My experiences came first.

AI helps me organize, question and communicate them.

That distinction is important.

An AI may know millions of facts, but it has not lived my life.

It did not grow up in Hong Kong.

It did not walk the streets I walked.

It did not work the jobs I worked.

It did not raise a family or spend decades collecting memories.

I bring the life experience. AI brings another kind of intelligence.

Together, something new becomes possible.

The future may not be “AI versus people”

Perhaps the wrong question is:

“Will AI replace people?”

Maybe the better question is:

“What can people accomplish when they learn to work with AI?”

The answer could be enormous.

The strongest person in the future may not be the person who knows everything.

It may be the person who knows how to work with AI while remaining fully human.

People + AI.

Experience + information.

Judgment + speed.

Creativity + technology.

That is the new bilingualism.

And I think this is only the beginning.

I am still learning.

At 80+, I have no intention of stopping now.

AI123.ca — Exploring → Learning → Documenting.

Maybe that is what being AI-bilingual really means: not becoming a machine, but learning how to have a useful conversation with one.

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From a Graph Book to Excel—and Now Excel with AI

 Early this morning, while I was still lying in bed, a thought about AI and Excel suddenly came to me.

It took me back several decades.

When I was working with Mr. Mok, he was preparing to retire and handing over the Personnel Department to me. One of the things I remember clearly was how payroll was handled.

There was no sophisticated payroll system.

The calculations were done manually with a calculator, and the figures were written into a large graph book.

I remember looking at the process and thinking: There must be a better way to do this.

So I designed a spreadsheet using Excel.

For me, it was a small but important improvement. Instead of repeatedly calculating and writing everything by hand, the spreadsheet could organize the information and do the calculations much more efficiently.

I enjoyed working with it.

Looking back now, I realize that what interested me was not really Excel itself. I enjoyed finding a better way of doing something that people had been doing manually for years.

And today, AI has taken that idea another step forward.

Excel meets AI

Excel is still very useful for organizing numbers, calculating figures and keeping structured records. But AI can now work alongside spreadsheets and help us understand and manipulate the information in more natural ways.

Instead of remembering complicated formulas, we can increasingly describe what we want in ordinary language.

For example:

“Show me which employees had the biggest changes in salary.”

“Calculate the total payroll for each department.”

“Find anything unusual in this month's figures.”

“Create a summary of this spreadsheet.”

“What would happen if salaries increased by 3%?”

AI can help turn those requests into analysis, formulas, summaries or other useful results.

That is quite a change from my old graph book.

The interesting part

But I don't think AI makes Excel unnecessary.

I see it differently.

Excel is the working table. AI is becoming the assistant sitting beside you.

The spreadsheet holds the information and performs the structured calculations. AI helps you ask questions, find patterns, create formulas, explain results and sometimes automate parts of the work.

That combination could make many ordinary office tasks much more efficient.

And there is something rather amusing about this for me.

Decades ago, I was looking at a large graph book and thinking, “There must be a better way.”

Today, at 80, I am looking at AI and thinking exactly the same thing.

The technology has changed dramatically.

But perhaps the basic human instinct has not changed at all.

Find a better way to do the work.

That is one reason I enjoy learning about AI today.

I have used technology for many years, from calculators to spreadsheets and now to AI. Each generation makes it easier to do things that once required much more time and effort.

I wonder what Mr. Mok would think if he could see his old Personnel Department today.

The calculator is gone.

The big graph book is gone.

The Excel spreadsheet is still around.

And now there is an AI assistant sitting beside it.

Not bad progress for one working lifetime.

And for this 80+ learner, the journey continues.

Want to explore AI + Excel?

• Try Microsoft Copilot with Excel
• Learn Excel skills with an online training course

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