AI is killing us all … not literally. Is AI dangerous?

I have to admit – I am having a really hard time with AI services and sales pitches from vendors about AI. Currently, the term AI is a hype without limits – I hear people talking about AI without a clue what it actually is and how it works. I mean I don’t want to be mean, but sales people are currently calling things “AI” that is nothing more than a rules engine. As already stated in my post for Advanced Analytics predictions, I tend to call this “rules based AI”. A really smart one ;). So, is AI dangerous at all?

AI isn’t as smart as you might think

Now, but why is AI creating so much trouble for all of us? It is mainly the Sales people that promise us now the magic AI thing. I recently heard a sales pitch where the seller told me: “you know, AI is this thing where our magicians make impressive stuff with”. I was really overpowered and didn’t know how to react. The only thing that came into my mind was asking him if their AI is already “rule based”. He was really enlighten, looked at with a winning grin and told me: “Yes, we are having a world-class rules based AI”. I didn’t ask any further, since it would eventually lead nowhere. However, I was really honoured to be a magician now.

I basically don’t fall for such sales pitches since I can easily uncover real AI. There are only few that get it done. Most others renamed their rules-engine to an AI. But imagine what happens when you are frequently dealing with business units? They are not so deep into technology and sales people now promise them the swiss army knife. I constantly get confronted with questions and have to explain the mess that has been created there. This is creating a lot of work and overload to an analytics departments that should deliver business results.

One demand from my side: could we please end this bullshit bingo about “AI”?

As always, I am looking forward to your feedback and thoughts about this topic 🙂

This post is part of the “Big Data for Business” tutorial. In this tutorial, I explain various aspects of handling data right within a company. If you should remain sceptical, I wouldn’t recommend Terminator. There, the question remains: is AI dangerous at all?