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- Ep. 3 | Fudge-ups with AI
Ep. 3 | Fudge-ups with AI
Chip's still not sure where to start with machine learning. And when his best friend faces two AI disasters, they turn to the Professor Berry for help with AI guardrails, automation errors, and keeping a "(dessert) human in the loop".
Christian Wink
May 27, 2025
Episode 3
🍨 Scoops appeared in Professor Berry's doorway, with a bright orange hula hoop spinning around his waist. The steady rhythm of plastic against ice cream filled the room.
Professor Berry adjusted her reading glasses and smiled.
🍪 Chip settled onto a lab stool. Books about flavor theory lined the walls alongside jars of homemade preserves.
"So," Berry said, pouring sherbert, "you've been having some automation adventures."
Scoops attempted to sit, the hula hoop still spinning.
"Two disasters, actually."
"Tell me about the first one."
"I used ChocoGPT to set up this customer service chatbot. 🤖
It started offering free ice cream to everyone!”
Chip chuckled. "Anyone who complained?"
“Unlimited scoops! Free ice cream for life."
Professor Berry leaned forward.
"Oh! A classic machine learning training problem. Inadequate initial parameters and insufficient boundary conditions result in unintended behavioral outputs from the AI system."
Scoops stalled. The hula hoop clattered.
Chip cleared his throat.
"A training misfire. Think of it like giving someone no recipe...
yet expecting them to bake a perfect cake." 🎂
"Exactly!" Scoops nodded. "I never told it how much free stuff was okay."
Berry smiled.
"Precisely. You needed clear constraints: maximum refund limits, escalation protocols, and predefined responses."
"Like training wheels," Chip added.
"Or bumpers at a bowling alley. 🎳 The AI needs guardrails; otherwise, gutterballs."
"Now, the second problem?" Berry invited.
"100 pounds of pumpkin swirl.
…in July. 🎃
The AI decided vanilla was boring. It placed the pumpkin order as if it were autumn in Sprinklevania.”
Chip grinned eagerly at his friend’s fudge-up.
Professor Berry swirled her glass, like she was rewinding a lecture in her mind.
"A dessert-in-the-loop failure. The system requires ongoing human oversight because it cannot incorporate contextual variables and temporal considerations that affect decision-making."
Chip jumped in.
✈️"It's like machine learning on autopilot. It can fly the plane perfectly, but you still need a pilot in the cockpit.”
"Ohhh," Scoops brightened. "So I need to keep a hand on the fudge lever, huh."
Berry nodded. "Regular review intervals, seasonal adjustment protocols, and anomaly detection alerts."
"A dessert in the loop." Chip simplified.
The rhythm was building. Berry would explain the technical framework, Chip would bring it down to earth.
"So… uh… who’s in the loop?" Scoops struggled.
"Training problems can be prevented through—"
Chip cut her off
"Training problems are like forgetting to tell someone the rules of a game…
Dessert-in-the-loop… that’s like needing the referee during the game."
Berry tapped her spoon against the glass, her version of a punctuation mark.
Scoops was spinning his hoop again.
"You know what, Chip? You should teach this stuff."
Chip felt strange.
"I'm just... translating."
"No," Berry said quietly.
"You're making complex concepts accessible. That's rare."
"It seems like everyone is curious about AI.” Chip agreed.
Outside, they could hear the everyday chaos of desserts trying to keep up with changing times.
"The thing is,"
"most desserts won’t ask for help. They think everyone else has figured it out."
Chip could feel something crystallizing.
The Dessert District was full of friends who needed help navigating AI. Maybe his gift wasn’t just decoding AI, it was serving it up in a different way.
“I’m going to show them. Not all at once… bite-sized lessons. 🍪 Help them feel capable"
Berry smiled. "Now that sounds like something worth pursuing."
Scoops’ eyes lit up.
"Hey Chip, wanna see if we can fit two desserts in the loop?"
He gestured invitingly at the spinning hoop.
🫶 Chip played along
"You know what they say… two heads are better than one!"
If you know someone who would enjoy this content,
Here’s what’s coming next :
Thursdays: We’ll cover foundational AI concepts. (Don’t worry. I put the cookies on the lower shelf, where anyone can reach ‘em.) I teach advanced concepts in simple, bite-sized chunks that anyone can understand.
Tuesdays: The next episode with Chip & Scoops, a couple of AI-curious friends just like you.
(Catch up on the last episode here)
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