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'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

theguardian.com

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Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#61

Post by Izkata »

harrall wrote: post #41
gum_wobble wrote: post #14

> PR executives say UK companies are forcing them to present ordinary automation as artificial intelligence What a time to be alive

Remember when crypto was hot and everything had crypto. Remember the Internet was first hot and everything was iThis or Active That. iPhone still has i. Remember… well not, me, I wasn’t alive… when radiation was cool and Radioactive was in. Everyone always wants to be cool.

Before the iPhone was the iPod, and before the iPod I had an iRiver mp3 player. There was certainly a trend and only Apple's product survived that one.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#62

Post by mnky9800n »

I think the worst part of all this is AI managed to make software cool again while also attacking software developers for no reason at all. Instead of claiming that AI will automate everything (like hello what do you think software does?). They could have said this will create millions of new jobs by giving access to tooling that lets you create whatever you want inside of a computer and offer it up to others. I guess people just like being negative about things.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#63

Post by Rebelgecko »

halfcat wrote: post #19

There was a line in one of The Walking Dead TV show spin-offs, something like: ”I've known men who inspire fear. Do you know what they have in common? They never say how frightening they are.” And here we are. ”I’ve known companies that work on AI. Do you know what they have in common?...”

The Geto Boys shared a similar sentiment in their song Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta.

A genuine gangster doesn't feel a need to flex their power, because such gauche displays only highlight one's own insecurities and weaknesses

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#64

Post by cj »

b3ing wrote: post #45

2 yrs ago I saw some company raise a million dollars by saying they used AI, when what they did could easily be done with an algorithm. Many things can be algorithms, regex filters, logic or heuristics (spam detection is an example) but nowadays people want the llm to do it first, without even thinking.

I think this quote is relevant:

> Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

In the sense that it doesn’t matter if it’s AI or Algorithms. All that matters is people think it could be AI. If yes, then it is. Doesn’t matter what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

(Not that I love this reality, I don’t advocate for it, but this is how things are)

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#65

Post by fnimick »

mnky9800n wrote: post #62

I think the worst part of all this is AI managed to make software cool again while also attacking software developers for no reason at all. Instead of claiming that AI will automate everything (like hello what do you think software does?). They could have said this will create millions of new jobs by giving access to tooling that lets you create whatever you want inside of a computer and offer it up to others. I gues…

It's more profitable to eliminate employee costs than make new products. There's a reason layoffs make stock prices soar far more than product announcements.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#66

Post by shermantanktop »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #22
gum_wobble wrote: post #14

> PR executives say UK companies are forcing them to present ordinary automation as artificial intelligence What a time to be alive

Yup. Also ML is called AI now too at least as far as hiring managers are concerned. Adjust your resume accordingly.

AI used to be called ML

which used to be called Statistics

which used to be called “math” or maybe “applied science.”

Obviously the underlying tech and research changed along the way… but not as much as it would seem. We’re still doing matrix operations and gradient descent and softmax, all of which has been around for a while.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#67

Post by bananaflag »

Izkata wrote: post #61
harrall wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember when crypto was hot and everything had crypto. Remember the Internet was first hot and everything was iThis or Active That. iPhone still has i. Remember… well not, me, I wasn’t alive… when radiation was cool and Radioactive was in. Everyone always wants to be cool.

Before the iPhone was the iPod, and before the iPod I had an iRiver mp3 player. There was certainly a trend and only Apple's product survived that one.

Because the trend started with the iMac.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#68

Post by mnky9800n »

fnimick wrote: post #65
mnky9800n wrote: post #62

I think the worst part of all this is AI managed to make software cool again while also attacking software developers for no reason at all. Instead of claiming that AI will automate everything (like hello what do you think software does?). They could have said this will create millions of new jobs by giving access to tooling that lets you create whatever you want inside of a computer and offer it up to others. I gues…

It's more profitable to eliminate employee costs than make new products. There's a reason layoffs make stock prices soar far more than product announcements.

it is somewhat sad that a company already profitable would devote it's time and energy and profits to becoming more profitable instead of doing cool shit. doing cool shit always seems to be a better idea than anything else when one has profit.

Re: 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

#69

Post by autoexec »

I hope these companies aren't in for a shock when the younger generation rejects their brands https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/920401/g...

If negative perception towards AI grows, either because of negative experiences after having it forced on them, or as people's utility bills skyrocket, or as the environmental impact becomes more apparent, they might find that what appeals to shareholders doesn't impress the people who usually pay for their products.

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