Ajitabh Pandey's Soul & Syntax

Exploring systems, souls, and stories – one post at a time

Author: Ajitabh

  • The AI Gold Rush: Why Narrow Intelligence Will Generate Trillions

    There’s no doubt that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the technology of our time, promising to reshape industries and create unprecedented economic value. But beneath the headlines and hype, what exactly is driving this revolution, and where is the estimated $13 to $22 trillion in annual value going to come from by 2033?

    The source for this valuation is a landmark 2018 report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) on the impact of AI on the world economy. You can find the full details of this modeling here: Notes from the AI frontier: Modeling the impact of AI on the world economy.

    The answer requires demystifying AI and understanding its three core ideas.

    The Three Faces of AI

    The term “AI” can be confusing because it refers to three distinct concepts:

    Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)

    Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) is the powerhouse driving the vast majority of AI value creation today. Unlike the broader, theoretical concept of human-level AI, ANI refers specifically to focused AI systems designed to master one specific task incredibly well. These systems are essentially “one-trick ponies,” but when the trick is appropriately chosen, the resulting impact is transformative and lucrative. Common examples include –

    • the spam filters that protect your inbox
    • the algorithms that power object detection in self-driving cars
    • the smart speakers that recognize your wake word, and
    • the automated visual inspection systems used in manufacturing to spot tiny defects in products coming off the assembly line.

    This high-impact, focused nature is why studies, such as those by the McKinsey Global Institute, consistently suggest that the largest portion of the projected multi-trillion dollar future value of AI will be unlocked through these narrow, yet highly optimized, applications, frequently relying on the machine learning technique known as Supervised Learning.

    Generative AI (GenAI)

    Generative AI, or GenAI, is absolutely the newest superstar in the tech world. This kind of AI has rapidly become famous because it can produce amazing, high-quality content—things like coherent text, realistic images, and even audio. It’s fundamentally expanded what we thought AI could do. For instance, tools like ChatGPT aren’t just single-task programs; they can jump between being a helpful copy editor, a creative brainstorming partner, or a concise text summarizer all in one go. Even though GenAI grabs a lot of headlines, it’s expected to account for a smaller, but still massive, slice of the total economic pie, we’re talking about $4 trillion annually. Its success is blurring the lines, making it seem like the previously narrow AI (ANI) can now handle much more general-purpose tasks.

    Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

    Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI, is the stuff of science fiction. It’s the big dream: creating an AI smart enough to handle any intellectual task a person can do, maybe even becoming super-intelligent, capable of far more than any human. But here’s the reality check: we are still very far away from achieving AGI. The recent exciting and valuable steps we’ve made with narrow AI (ANI) and generative AI (GenAI) are impressive, sure, yet they often trick people into thinking AGI is right around the corner. Instead, it’s better to think of our current progress as tiny, promising baby steps leading toward what is still a distant, long-term goal.

    Beyond Software: Where AI Will Strike Next

    AI has definitely already created tremendous value in the world of software. But we must understand that the biggest future opportunities, the most exciting part actually lie outside of the tech sector itself. We’re talking about massive transformation coming to industries like retail, travel, transportation, manufacturing, and the automotive sector. Seriously, it’s really hard to name one single industry that won’t be hugely impacted by this technology in the next few years. The real trick, the big challenge for companies that don’t build software, is figuring out exactly which specific, narrow “tricks” those powerful, focused AI applications (ANI) can use to unlock this huge, multi-trillion dollar potential right within their own daily operations.

  • Book Review: Midnight Black (Gray Man #14)

    Version 1.0.0

    Midnight Black is another fast-paced and gripping entry in Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series. This time, Court Gentry (the Gray Man) takes on one of his most personal and dangerous missions yet. His objective is not a contract or a target, but a rescue. Zoya Zakharova, his partner and former Russian spy, has been captured and thrown into a brutal prison camp deep inside Russia. Refusing to believe she’s lost forever, Gentry embarks on a desperate mission to bring her back, no matter the cost.

    The pacing is fierce right from the start. The book portrays a strong emotional drive in the Gray Man, which was never seen in any of the previous books in the series. For the first time in 14 books of the series so far, the readers (and followers of the series) see a personal side of him and he appears truly human.

    The book leans heavily toward action and military-style missions rather than subtle spy craft.

    The narration by Jay Snyder deserves special mention. His delivery once again elevates the story to another level. The pacing of his narration perfectly matches the tension and rhythm of Greaney’s writing, and his voice modulation brings each scene and character to life. Snyder has become inseparable from the Gray Man series, and his performance here is among his best.

    Midnight Black is pure adrenaline with heart — a mix of non-stop action, emotional stakes, and high-end espionage. It’s a story about loyalty and love set against the backdrop of danger and impossible odds. I was not disappointed, and I can definitely say the series’s fans will not be either. New readers will find it a thrilling introduction to one of the best modern spy thrillers.

  • Book Review: Artillery’s Thunder – The Untold Kargil Story by Maj Gen (Retd) Lakhwinder Singh

    From Kargil’s peaks to today’s fragile LoC, this book reminds us that the echoes of 1999 still shape India’s military conscience.”

    Few books pierce the surface of India’s modern military history with the clarity and courage that Artillery’s Thunder does. Written by Major General (Retd) Lakhwinder Singh, this is not another sanitized retelling of the 1999 Kargil War—it is a ground-up reconstruction of how India’s artillery turned the tide when confusion, unpreparedness, and political hesitation loomed large.

    From the very first pages, Singh pulls readers into the raw tempo of Operation Vijay. He paints the early chaos with startling honesty: intelligence lapses, senior commanders underestimating a well-entrenched enemy, and a rush to attack without adequate reconnaissance. The Indian Air Force’s initial unpreparedness for high-altitude combat adds to the realism of his account, yet he’s quick to acknowledge their exceptional logistical support that kept operations alive.

    Where this book truly thunders is in its portrayal of the artillery corps. Singh’s descriptions of coordinated barrages by Bofors FH-77Bs roaring day and night, precisely synchronizing with ground advances reveal how artillery became the silent architect of victory. He doesn’t hesitate to critique the post-war glorification imbalance: renaming Gun Hill to Batra Top symbolizes, in his view, how institutional bias often eclipses artillery’s contributions.

    The political backdrop runs as a constant undercurrent, Singh sharply critiques the restrictions imposed for optics, such as the “no crossing LoC” rule, even as the enemy violated it. His tone remains patriotic, but it’s the patriotism of someone who has seen both the brilliance and the blunders of war up close.

    Artillery’s Thunder is not merely a military memoir, it’s a mirror held up to India’s defense establishment, urging introspection and readiness. The book closes on a haunting note: that the echoes of Kargil are far from silent, especially in the light of recent events like the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.

    In the end, this is both a tribute and a warning. It celebrates the men behind the guns as much as it cautions against complacency.

    Highly recommended for defense enthusiasts, policy thinkers, and anyone who seeks the unfiltered truth of India’s most hard-fought modern war.

  • Book Review: The Gotland Deception by James Rosone and Miranda Watson

    James Rosone and Miranda Watson’s The Gotland Deception arrives with the promise of a gripping military technothriller, setting the stage for a new global conflict in the 2030s. The book’s premise seems very compelling.

    I found that roughly 85% of the book is devoted to comprehensive world-building. This includes deep dives into family life, military exercises, spy infiltration plots, and incredibly detailed descriptions of autonomous systems and advanced equipment. While some foundational work is crucial in launching a new series, this extensive setup significantly slows the narrative pace.

    It’s clear the authors are meticulously establishing the stakes and the technology of this near-future world. They detail the “frontlines to a proxy war” across locations like Angola, Svalbard, and Taiwan, painting a plausible, if chilling, picture of how a new World War III could quietly begin.

    The good news? The meticulous setup pays off—eventually.

    The real, explosive action only kicks in during the final chapters. When it does, the pace accelerates dramatically, delivering the kind of fast-paced, engaging military action fans of Rosone’s The Monroe Doctrine series expect. That late surge of adrenaline and thrilling potential is what truly saves the book.

    I’m rating The Gotland Deception three stars, largely on the strength of that ending. It’s an undeniable hint that the sequels, built on the solid, albeit dense, foundation of this first installment, could very well deliver a continuous, gripping thriller experience. It’s a slow burn that promises much for the series to come. Readers with patience will be rewarded by a thrilling finale and an exciting glimpse into a potential future military conflict.

  • When Pi-hole + Unbound Stop Resolving: A DNSSEC Trust Anchor Fix

    I have my own private DNS setup in my home network, powered by Pi-hole running on my very first Raspberry Pi, a humble Model B Rev 2. It’s been quietly handling ad-blocking and DNS resolution for years. But today, something broke.

    I noticed that none of my devices could resolve domain names. Pi-hole’s dashboard looked fine. The DNS service was running, blocking was active, but every query failed. Even direct dig queries returned SERVFAIL. Here’s how I diagnosed and resolved the issue.

    The Setup

    My Pi-hole forwards DNS queries to Unbound, a recursive DNS resolver running locally on port 5335. This is configured in /etc/pihole/setupVars.conf.

    PIHOLE_DNS_1=127.0.0.1#5335
    PIHOLE_DNS_2=127.0.0.1#5335

    And my system’s /etc/resolv.conf points to Pi-hole itself

    nameserver 127.0.0.1

    Unbound is installed with the dns-root-data package, which provides root hints and DNSSEC trust anchors:

    $ dpkg -l dns-root-data|grep ^ii
    ii  dns-root-data  2024041801~deb11u1 all          DNS root hints and DNSSEC trust anchor

    The Symptoms

    Despite everything appearing normal, DNS resolution failed:

    $ dig google.com @127.0.0.1 -p 5335

    ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL

    Even root-level queries failed:

    $ dig . @127.0.0.1 -p 5335

    ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL

    Unbound was running and listening:

    $ netstat -tulpn | grep 5335

    tcp  0  0 127.0.0.1:5335  0.0.0.0:*  LISTEN  29155/unbound

    And outbound connectivity was fine. I pinged one of the root DNS servers directly to ensure this:

    $ ping -c1 198.41.0.4 
    PING 198.41.0.4 (198.41.0.4) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 198.41.0.4: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=206 ms

    --- 198.41.0.4 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 205.615/205.615/205.615/0.000 ms

    The Diagnosis

    At this point, I suspected a DNSSEC validation failure. Unbound uses a trust anchor, which is simply a cryptographic key stored in root.key. This cryptographic key is used to verify the authenticity of DNS responses. Think of it like a passport authority: when you travel internationally, border agents trust your passport because it was issued by a recognized authority. Similarly, DNSSEC relies on a trusted key at the root of the DNS hierarchy to validate every response down the chain. If that key is missing, expired, or corrupted, Unbound can’t verify the authenticity of DNS data — and like a border agent rejecting an unverified passport, it simply refuses to answer, returning SERVFAIL.

    Even though dns-root-data was installed, the trust anchor wasn’t working.

    The Fix

    I regenerated the trust anchor manually:

    $ sudo rm /usr/share/dns/root.key
    $ sudo unbound-anchor -a /usr/share/dns/root.key
    $ sudo systemctl restart unbound

    After this, Unbound started resolving again:

    $ dig google.com @127.0.0.1 -p 5335

    ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR
    ;; ANSWER SECTION:
    google.com. 300 IN A 142.250.195.78

    Why This Happens

    Even with dns-root-data, the trust anchor could become stale — especially if the system missed a rollover event or the file was never initialized. Unbound doesn’t log this clearly, so it’s easy to miss.

    Preventing Future Failures

    To avoid this in the future, I added a weekly cron job to refresh the trust anchor:

    0 3 * * 0 /usr/sbin/unbound-anchor -a /usr/share/dns/root.key

    And a watchdog script to monitor Unbound health:

    $ dig . @127.0.0.1 -p 5335 | grep -q 'status: NOERROR' || systemctl restart unbound

    This was a good reminder that even quiet systems need occasional maintenance. Pi-hole and Unbound are powerful together, but DNSSEC adds complexity. If you’re running a similar setup, keep an eye on your trust anchors, and don’t trust the dashboard alone.