‘Sunday Today’ Covers Artificial Intelligence, ‘Hamilton’ And New Trends


The new NBC show, titled Sunday Today, starring Willie Geist, premiered and began to cover the hottest topics of the week and modern times. Those topics were wide and broad-ranging, covering everything from Julia Louis Dreyfus hosting Saturday Night Live and resurrecting her Seinfeld character, to the latest Broadway smash, “Hamilton.”

Sunday Today provided a snippet of the hottest trends during the past week, such as the family who tricked their sister into thinking there was a zombie apocalypse after she was still high on drugs from her dentist visit. Beyond the most viral stories of the week, Sunday Today also covered futuristic topics that aren’t so much a part of the future anymore as they are current topics.

One of those big topics covered by Sunday Today was also artificial intelligence — known as AI — with the latest man versus machine “Alphago” lesson featured. AI can do much more than play games, however, reported Sunday Today. AI can also be used to detect skin cancer, even more accurately than some doctors who fight cancer. AI might be able to make the world a better place, if used correctly and for altruistic purposes.

Oddly enough, Sunday Today featured a Tesla that used AI that allowed the driver not to drive — but to let the computer take over and drive. What’s odd about that situation is that Tesla creator Elon Musk said that AI could be like “summoning the demon” if it’s not controlled in the proper way. Musk joked that AI could represent a person with a pentagram and holy water claiming everything would be just fine. Elon left out the cross normally used in such situations, as portrayed in movies.

“OpenAI” is a project that Musk contributed monies to in order to make sure that AI remains an extension of human wills and not something that’s used against humans. It’s a notion that seeks to ensure that the AI computers and intelligence doesn’t become smarter than the humans who created AI in the first place. The goal is not to have the computers one day decide that they don’t need humans and do away with the human race.

Also featured on Sunday Today was actor Leslie Odom Jr., as seen on the right in the above photo. Leslie is one of the stars of the Broadway play “Hamilton” — a smash hit that has even brought the attention of President Obama. In the top photo above, Leslie is in the East Room of the White House, on Monday, March 14, in Washington, D.C.

“Hamilton” is reportedly one of the hardest tickets to obtain. Meanwhile, Leslie told Sunday Today that while growing up, he didn’t know much about Broadway until the smash hit “Rent” came his way. Leslie also spoke about living in the world before social media and cell phones, and how when New York called his landline (without having caller ID), he swore that even the ring of that particular phone call sounded different than other calls. Leslie learned that he was Broadway-bound, and he’s hardly looked back.

Instead, Leslie spoke about what it was like to meet his acting idols, as folks like Beyoncé and Jay-Z showed up backstage, along with other celebrities like Matthew McConaughey, who wore a snapback hat that proclaimed his famous “Alright” saying. Leslie said it was interesting to see those stars out of their element, after having spent three hours watching all the war scenes of “Hamilton.”

Leslie reported that the first rows of the play are filled with folks who won the lottery and scored their tickets to the play for only $10 each, and that they were filled with people who might cry throughout the entire play.

[Photo by AP Photo/Evan Vucci]

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