The hype around the potential of artificial intelligence is unlike anything the tech space has ever seen. It’s pushed as a concept with a million uses, which will improve your life in a million ways.
Like any new tech development, however, whether the technology can live up to the claims made by the people trying to sell it to you is another question entirely.
AI, although overwhelmingly helpful in some areas, is little more than a gimmick in others. The questions are, how do we know where this line lies, and where does AI fulfil its promise?
A Push for Total Life Integration
CEOs in big companies have a problem, in that many of them confuse the size of their paychecks with the level of their understanding and insight. While this might seem a harsh conclusion, it’s been illustrated quite clearly by how modern AI implementation into our lives has taken shape.
“Brüush Electric Toothbrush” (CC BY 2.0) by electricteeth
If you’ve looked to upgrade your computer mouse recently, you might have seen systems like the Logitech Signature AI Edition M750, which includes a button that directly links to ChatGPT. Taking the unnecessary one step further is the growing proliferation of AI toothbrushes or AI dishwashers. Of course, neither of these systems requires advanced AI to achieve maximum functionality, but that’s not the point. The point is to add another fancy sticker to the box to entice the unfamiliar, and in this approach, it’s often successful.
Competition with Humans
More claims about the efficacy of AI have come from generative platforms which can ostensibly manage advanced human creative or planning work. While impressive at a glance, these results from platforms like ChatGPT can’t discriminate like humans can. Basically, the machines are functionally naïve and gullible, constantly mixing up jokes, rumours, and facts, while filling in informational blanks with poorly-educated guesses.
For an example of what humans can do, consider how legit online casinos operate when comparing website elements like bonuses, promotions, customer support, and VIP programs. With real human reviews, each of these aspects is checked by hand and is understood at each level. This level of care guarantees accuracy and reliability that AI systems alone can’t match, and it’s why human-first approaches are far more respectable.
The Best AI is Also the Dumbest
While AI is continuing to grow more powerful, it’s also run into a hurdle of the developer’s own making. AI essentially scans and takes as much data as it can from a range of online sources, finding patterns and using these patterns to create language models. The problem is that the modern internet is also flooded with AI text and images. This leads to AI learning off AI, creating feedback loops of bad information, like creating VHS copies of VHS copies back in the day of cassette media, and the famous ever-increasing number of fingers.
Instead, the AI which performs the best are the systems that have been running for years behind the scenes. Simple code and maths are, technically, AI, and this has been the basis of a million different parts of the digital world since its inception. It might not be able to imitate advanced aspects of humanity, but it can achieve simple tasks, and this is what we really want.
The takeaway here is that if you’re looking to upgrade anything in your home with new AI systems, understand that the term as used in advertising is essentially meaningless. Explore user reviews before you buy, know that the lifespan of AI support is likely very limited, and you’ll be more likely to find a good that truly suits your lifestyle for years to come.
