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Is Artificial Intelligence a hype?

Date: 2024-06-21 10:07

AI in the media

Last week I read an article on NOS.nl with the headline 'Chipmaker Nvidia most valuable company on the stock exchange thanks to AI hype'. The word hype got me thinking. I note that about half of the posts that LinkedIn offers me are about AI, during last week's JSpring there was a lot of talk about AI and indeed the Nvidia share has experienced a special upward trend. As the English say: AI is making headlines.

Advertising with AI for attention?

The question is, is AI discussed and mentioned on Social Media mainly with the aim of attracting attention? Sometimes I feel like an IT solution is claimed to use AI technology when that is not the case. But I'm not sure, so I'm wondering what ChatGPT has to say about this when I ask if there are any companies making exaggerated claims when it comes to AI.

Here's an example of an ad that claims a technology is AI when it actually isn't:*Ad text:*

"Experience our revolutionary new photo editing software with built-in AI! Our tool automatically recognizes faces in your photos and offers you preset filters that perfectly suit any scene."

*Analysis:*

- *Claim:* The software uses AI to recognize faces and suggest filters.

- *Reality:* Face recognition may simply be based on fixed pattern recognition algorithms, which have no machine learning capabilities. The same goes for recommending filters; this can simply be based on predetermined rules without any form of machine learning.

How does ChatGPT decide to give me this answer? This means 'old-fashioned Googling'. And indeed I quickly find an advertisement for a planning tool with the following text: Checkmate's artificial intelligence takes into account changes in production lines, rapidly changing delivery dates, rush orders, stock shortages, (un)planned maintenance work and all those other complex factors that make life difficult for human planners.

AI vs automatic decision making

I suspect that the planning tool uses automatic decision making, a valuable technology for companies that want to shape their digital transformation. But is machine learning also used? And if so, is that the solution that meets a customer need? We have been doing our best for decades to create IT solutions that meet customer requirements. Are we now faced with a situation where customers ask for solutions that do not meet their needs?

No free lunch

AI has the following risks and challenges (source 2):

  • learning curve and difficult to understand how the AI solution makes its decisions;
  • mistrust (am I now becoming redundant, should humanity take this path?);
  • data hosting and restrictions (where can I store my data, storage costs, security);
  • poor data quality and data bias (why does Mohammed always have to work during Christmas and is Piet always free at Christmas?).

A hype, so temporary?

So yes, we are dealing with sensational headlines and exaggerated claims; there is a hype. When AI is a hype, does that mean AI is something temporary? No, this is not the case! A fifth industrial revolution is underway and this technology is an important piece of the puzzle. More about this later….

Sources:

  1. https://nos.nl/artikel/2525139-chipmaker-nvidia-dankzij-ai-hype-meest-waardevolle-bedrijf-op-de-beurs
  2. Digital Transformation Course Module 2, Digital Transformation in Practice, Arcitura.
  3. https://maintenancebenelux.nl/artikel/ai-planning-tool/
  4. ChatGPT