Is Big Tech Faking AI?

Last week, I shared an article about Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology – and how it likely required a team of human validators and data labelers.

My takeaway from the article was that we're right at the peak of inflated expectations and about to enter the trough of disillusionment. 

Gartner via Wikipedia 

One of my friends sent me this video, which he found in response.

 

via Sasha Yanshin

It's a pretty damning video from someone who is frustrated with AI - but it makes several interesting points. The presenter discusses Amazon's recent foible, Google's decreasing search quality, the increase of poorly written AI-crafted articles, GPTs web-scraping scandals, and the overall generalization of responses we see as everyone uses AI everywhere. 

Yanshin attributes the disparity between the actual results and the excitement surrounding AI stocks to the substantial investments from technology giants. But as most bubbles prove, money will be the catalyst for amazing things — and some amazing failures and disappointments too.

His final takeaway is that, regardless of its current state, AI is coming and will undoubtedly improve our lives. 

If I were to add some perspective from someone in the industry, it would be this. 

AI Is Overdelivering in Countless Ways

There will always be a gap between expectations and reality (because there will always be a gap between the hype and adoption cycles). AI is already seamlessly integrated into your life. It's the underpinning of your Smartphones, Roombas, Alexas, Maps, etc. It has also massively improved supply chain management, data analytics, and more. 

That's not what gets media coverage ... because it's not sexy ... even if it's real. 

OverHype has existed for much longer than AI has been in the public eye. An easy example is the initial demo of the iPhone, which was almost totally faked,

Having created AI since arguably the mid-90s, the progress and capabilities of AI today are hard to believe. They're almost good enough to seem like science fiction. 

The Tool Isn't Usually The Problem 

Artificial Intelligence is not a substitute for the real thing—and it certainly can't compensate for the lack of the real thing. 

I sound like a broken record, but AI is a tool, not a panacea. Misusing it, like using a shovel as a hammer, leads to disappointment. And it doesn't help if you're trying to hammer nails when you should be laying bricks. 

ChatGPT is very impressive, as are many other generative AI tools. However, they're still products of the data used to train them. They won't make sure they give you factual information; they can only write their responses based on the data they have.

If you give an AI tool a general prompt, you'll likely get a general answer. Crafting precise prompts increases their utility and can create surprising results. 

Even if AI independently achieves 80% of the desired outcome, it still did it without a human, a salary, or hours and days of time to create it. 

Unfortunately, if you're asking the wrong questions, the answers still won't help you. 

That's why it matters not only that you use the right tool but also that you use it to solve the right problem. In addition, many businesses lose sight of the issues they're solving because they get distracted by bright and shiny new opportunities. 

Conclusion

Sifting the wheat from the chaff has become more complicated — and not just in AI. Figuring out what news is real, who to trust, and what companies won't misuse your data seems like it has almost become a full-time job. 

If you take the time, you will see a lot of exciting progress. 

Public perception is likely to trend downward in the next news cycle, which is to be expected. After the peak of inflated expectations comes the trough of disillusionment. 

Regardless, AI will continue to become more capable, ubiquitous, and autonomous. The question is only how long until it affects your business and industry. 

 - via Don't Walk Out on AI Just Yet

What's the most exciting technology you've seen recently?