This is one of the most fun Op-Eds that I have written in a while. Partly because of the AI fatigue that I am experiencing. So sick of every ad for everything having to mention AI in order to be relevant. A year or so back the word Bespoke was in everyone’s advertising. Before that Blockchain was the buzz word because of crypto currency. Now everything is AI.
And there is no doubt that AI is one of the next big things, just like the smart phone and the internet itself. But it is not actually brand-new technology. More like a brand-new branding (pun intended) of some more advanced technology that has been around for a while. We were discussing AI in our products in this newsletter 4 or 5 years ago as it pertains to the machine vision that we sell. But now AI is the new “it” and billions, or maybe even trillions of dollars are being invested into the technology.
But if you have ever actually used AI in some of the tools available to us, you start to think about how new it is, and frankly how stupid it is sometimes. Suggesting some pretty silly solutions or saying some pretty silly things. Which reminded me of a concept that my not so stupid children introduced me to a few years ago, the Dunning-Kruger effect.
A sometimes-dangerous syndrome that we all can experience as we learn something new. First, we learn a little, and then we suddenly think that we know everything. Think Teenagers! Then, over time, we learn more and then start to realize how little we really know. Only after years of building our knowledge base and gaining experience, are we able to look back and see how little we really knew, when we thought that we knew everything. I say it is dangerous, because a lot of plane crashes have happened over the years due to the Dunning-Kruger effect.
So, does this mean that AI is all hype? Absolutely not, but it helps you put into perspective the current state of AI. It is in its infancy and still has a long way to go until it is really at its full potential. One of our jobs as your technology consultant is to have our heads screwed on right when it comes to new technology and not leading you down the bleeding edge of technology, or crashing your technology plane!
Instead, we will keep our eyes open as AI comes into our space and help you navigate when is the right time to jump in. If you want to explore how we can help you, visit us at www.emptechgroup.com to learn more.