I was a dreadful student in my life, I rarely studied for everything and drove my teachers wild.

This month, I studied for hours before buying and receiving the Iphone X, I read a score of reviews, watched dozens of websites and YouTube reviews and read every word of the Apple literature. This week, I’m taking a half-hour phone tutorial from Apple Support on how to understand and use the phone.

Of all the reviews I read – I have never done that much studying in my life – I think the CNET review was the most useful in telling me what was new and important about the Iphone X and what wasn’t. The geek reviews were mostly useless, ranting about other phones, swipes, notches and two-handed commands. It takes five minutes to learn what you really need to know.

The focus on price and buttons seems narcisstic to me, big news if you are a techno-geek, but most of the reviews had little vision or connection to the needs of ordinary people. Like mainstream media, it is obsessed with controversy and fault-finding.

All weekend, I’ve had this curious feeling that this phone was radically different than any other I’ve used. It seemed to have a consciousness to me, it’s own identity. It gave itself commands independent of me, every time I have used it, it is different, more complete, easier to use. It seemed to heal itself. I saw it grow before my eyes.

It also seemed to work better as it got to know me. It’s a strange thought, but I think it’s true.

Some people feel like magic has left the world, driven a way by ideologues, animal rights people, religious fanatics, corporatists and greed.  I believe in magic. Magic is very personal. You either feel it or you don’t. This phone has magic, and I can feel it.

Hardly any of the reviews mentioned what was, to me, truly the most significant thing about this new phone (I’m sorry, please forgive me, but the $1,000 price tag seems quite reasonable to me given the complexity and creativity and utility of the device. We are quite spoiled.)

It’s fine not to choose the phone or want one, but it is not a crime against humanity to get one and pay for it. I’ve spent a lot of money buying things that don’t work, this one works. One woman asked me if I had considered the poor pay the Iphone laborers earn or the damage to the environment.

I consider that almost every day, but I also know that this is true of whatever we buy, in this country or any other. I don’t know how to live in a world with those choices, or where to put my social conscience. I need to live in the world we have, not just the world we want.

Last night, I realized what it was I was feeling and experiencing about this phone, and browsing the Web for information about new technology, it hit me: the phone is the most vivid example and preview I have yet seen about Artificial Intelligence, the science of teaching machines to think.

Apple has said repeatedly that the Iphone X it’s it’s first major showcase and platform for introducing AI to the commercial world of smart phone users. Samsung has been doing it too, complained some critics, but so what? Good for them. AI is a huge part of this phone experience. That isn’t about utility but vision.

Artificial Intelligence is generally defined as the theory and development of computer systems that are able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation between languages. All of these tasks are on the phone in varying degrees, and they all seem to work.

AI is a computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and reaction like humans, from speech recognition to problem solving and learning. There are AI programs for knowledge, reasoning, perception,  and planning (on the dark side, think “Hal.”

It didn’t really occur to me until I began exploring the X that my new Iphone does many of these things.

Every time I use the Face ID, the computer recognizes me more quickly, and this ID can be used to access almost all of the apps on the phone, from banking to Paypal to my credit card. It is fast and relatively secure. Almost any phone will make a call, this machine goes far beyond that.

For me, the exciting thing about AI is not the security of the phone, but the  very personal introduction to this groundbreaking technology of the future, or perhaps the present. The animated Emojis are not just a joke, but a whole new way to communicate. You don’t have to be a kid to have fun texting.

I’ve been sending them to everyone I know. I sent some dirty message Emoji’s  (I was a unicorn) to Maria, who nearly collapsed laughing. Here’s Ai And Emoji’s

I hope she puts them up on her blog.

I’m being careful not to overstate, but at times I have the feeling the phone has a kind consciousness.

It was learning as much about me as I was learning about it, poor thing. I wonder how it will deal with my moods and impatience. It has already told me to slow down once or twice.

The X makes decisions on it’s own, it repairs and corrects itself, talks to me constantly about options and my decisions, corrects me and warns me, and seems to grow more efficient and confident by the hour.

Friday, when I first used it, it was a smartphone. Today, it feels like my smartphone, it literally has me in it. I am just getting into the photography and tomorrow I’ll try a video.

The phone is also getting to know and anticipate me. Siri has grown up quite a bit, she even has a new and businesslike voice. Thanks to AI, you can talk to her at any time by just by speaking her name, and she is efficient and responsive. She almost functions are a personal secretary for me.

I sense the phone isn’t just reacting to me, i see it evolving and connecting and problem solving. I don’t really care about swipes and hypes or pixels,  I feel quite engaged with the phone.

All of the warnings about the difficulties seem quite over-hyped to me. It just isn’t hard. And Apple is right there on the phone if you need them.

I am nottechno-whiz, I have no problems using the phone after the initial shock and mild trauma of something so different. You do, in fact, have to think about it, and it does, in fact, think about me.

That is pretty wild. I’m excited about the phone, I feel I’m learning something new and also just beginning to grasp how powerful new technologies are changing the world. It is so important to think and be challenged in our world. I refuse Old Fartism, the clucking about phones and messages. The world changes all the time, and you can get on the boat or stand on the shore grumping about the old days.

I have a new and very effective tool for managing my life, my money, my information and for communicating with the people I love and care about. Make no mistake, this is an interactive tool. I will ask a lot of it, and it will ask something of me.

For me, $1,000 for that kind of magic is a steal.