(Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.)
Businesses big and small are racing to show their employees, shareholders and you that they’re all over the new magical AI. I’ve seen a lot of tech frenzy come and go, but the AI frenzy is really out of control.
AI will have profoundly helpful uses. But technology is also drowning in false promises that waste your time, energy, money, and possibly your health. (Example: New York has a government AI chatbot that habitually gives people wrong legal advice.)
This moment in technology demands more. Why.
Why does all this speculative technology exist? Why is it worth your time or money? Why propose a task for AI — say, asking a chatbot for the proper oven temperature at a fast-food restaurant — better than simpler, cheaper, less privacy-invading ways of doing the same thing? Is?
So here goes. Let’s ask some reasons.
Amazon’s flashy flops vs. boring successes
I know many people like the “walk-out only” technology in Amazon’s Go convenience stores and Fresh Grocery stores.
As you grab apples and milk from the store shelves, an array of cameras, sensors and AI software track what you’ve done. Your account is charged without the need to scan items or pay at the register.
But Amazon’s complex technology didn’t do enough to justify the cost.
As with most AI, humans are behind the scenes to check receipts for accuracy after they leave your store and “teach” the software that mistook an apple for an orange to Don’t repeat the mistake. The technology is also difficult and expensive to install and troubleshoot.
It doesn’t really matter whether shoppers like cashierless stores or not. A technology will not be sustainable if it cannot bring enough profit to justify the costs and complications. “Just walk out” fails that test, at least for the big grocery stores.
Amazon says cashierless technology has proven its worth in smaller, busy stores like airports and sports stadiums.
Amazon grocery stores will instead use carts that let you scan items and skip the register. It’s less complicated technology that forces you to do the work instead of the AI.
If the technology gets better, maybe it will be great. But why has Amazon ignored the lessons of its history?
The biggest innovations in your purchases often aren’t the flashiest things. Sucharita Kodali, principal analyst for retail and e-commerce with research firm Forrester, said it’s the slowest technologies you’ve ever seen.
Amazon has ramped up electricity delivery with its latest technology (and warehouse construction) to spread its pallet of products across the country. When you order a blender, it can arrive quickly because it’s in a warehouse near you.
Thanks to improvements in inventory tracking software, your local Target store can ship your order for cookware and still have enough for other shoppers who come into the store.
Your grocery shopping is optimized with worker scheduling technology that ensures there are enough people to stock the shelves and back off the trucks.
Toothbrush with AI: Why?
Flashy technology demands your attention like a loud red sports car. You probably wouldn’t shop at the grocery store because it has amazing inventory management software. But maybe if it has fewer checkouts than robots or cashiers.
Companies can certainly take cool-sounding technology to ridiculous extremes. Can I introduce Oral-B’s line of toothbrushes with AI?
Marketing materials for the $400 version mention “AI position detection” — which sounds like a straightforward sensor that detects which teeth you’re brushing and for how long. There’s also “3D tooth tracking with AI” to show if you’ve brushed successfully.
I asked representatives from Procter & Gamble, which owns Oral-B, what exactly the AI is about this toothbrush. He declined to comment.
If you’re jazzed about nighttime grades for your brushing, you will. But this toothbrush doesn’t seem to have AI even under the broadest definition of the term.
Marc Benioff, CEO of software company Salesforce and a big AI booster, recently Tweeted That toothbrush was a sign of peak AI hype. (Sorry to Benioff and the rest of us, AI will be way more hype.)
We’ll wade through the frenzy of companies that pretend to have little or no AI in every single product and tell you that it’s awesome. It just doesn’t feel that way.
So here’s your sanity check for AI hype: ask for lots of reasons, and please ignore 95 percent of what’s going on.
- Is This AI? Take our quiz.
- “Monito sauce” and a picture of a shrimp with two tails. Enjoy the weirdness of AI-generated recipes and AI-generated food photos.
- Here are four really helpful ways to use an AI chatbot.