The Bold Sentence Problem in Technology
Matt Carlin
Driving Innovation, Optimizing the Customer Experience, and Transforming Enterprises
Does tech have a Bold Sentence problem? In the age of 'fake it til you make it,' tech companies time and time again make grand pronouncements about how rapidly they are advancing and how close the future is. As leaders with varying levels of familiarity with these technologies, we have to put a certain amount of faith in tech companies that they are telling the truth and can do what they say. However, many of these bold sentences are not founded in working technology, but the appearance of working technology. Today, we are going to look at some recent examples of bold sentences coming out of tech, why that is a problem, and what we as leaders can do inoculate ourselves from them.
Recent Bold Sentences
In 2024 we have been inundated with big promises, bold sentences, from the tech industry that did not stand up to scrutiny:
“Just Walk Out” was an incredible AI concept; cameras and sensors would track you around the store, identify what you picked up and put down so the system would know what you left with in your cart. You would be charged based on what you walked out with in an entirely automated, seamless experience. It turns out, that was powered by hundreds of humans watching you shop, not some new advanced technology. This is still a wild new customer experience, but the bold sentence that it runs without human intervention turns out to not be true.
Self-driving cars sound incredible. You just hop in, enter a destination and your car takes you where you want to go. Unlike public transit, you get your privacy and door to door transit, but also can remain productive (or catch up on sleep) while your car takes care of the chore of driving. This technology is supposed to be powered by an array of sensors and camera as well as a massive AI brain that tells the car what to do. While this is closer to true than some of the other examples, the AI at best is easily fooled by aggressive driving or traffic cones and at worst is a danger to the people around you. The fix, cut the AI out and have a human just drive the car from a distance. More bold sentences from big tech that don't reflect reality.
Tesla is notorious for big ideas and bold sentences. In the last few months, Tesla demonstrated their humanoid robots as bartenders. The conversations, though, felt too human and the capability of a robot to make drink orders was too natural. Instead of being a show case of advanced AI and robotics capabilities, it was another 'man behind the curtain' exercise where a human was operating the technology remotely.
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The Bold Sentence Problem
So what? It is common at this point to make a big promise to get buy-in or investment for a project and figure it out as we go. Learning comes from doing, and sometimes bold sentences are what we need to get that buy in. Why is it a problem when big tech does it?
I'd argue its not a problem when the bold sentence can transition from theory to reality with existing or soon to exist technology. We can safely commit to those ambitions, those goals, and by the time we are ready to bring them online, the technology will have caught up and we can keep our promises. Enterprises move slow, so technology that is a year out is still worth considering. The problem comes from bold sentences that won't become reality for years or ever. Then, we have to make commitments based on a future that will never exist, making us as decision-makers either fools or liars.
How do we get around the Bold Sentence Problem?
Having seen tech's bold sentence problem pop up time and time again, what can we as leaders do to avoid getting trapped in it? Here are three steps to take to make sure you don't fall behind as new capabilities come to market, but also don't over-commit to the hype of a bold sentence technology.
By approaching new technologies with a realistic understanding and game plan for multiple potential futures, you can incorporate emerging technologies in your roadmap without getting blindsided when a bold sentence turns out to be an empty promise.
Tech companies need hype to survive. It helps new companies or products build an audience, grow customer bases and adoption rates. Technology spreads when people are excited. Unfortunately, that also pushes tech companies to, at times, over-promise. They make outlandish proclamations, bold sentences, that may deceive the market and us as leaders and decision-makers into believing we can bring on a capability that may never exist. Today, we saw a few recent examples of this as well as why its a problem and how to work around it without slowing the pace of enterprise innovation.
Have you been bit by tech's B.S. (still Bold Sentences)? Or do you have other approaches that keep your companies agile but safe in the face of smoke-and-mirrors technology? Please share your insights!