We lost the tail; Is the Brain Next ?

A million years ago, humans lost the tail. Will the brain lose its function next, thanks to artificial intelligence ?

I came across this insight by Anand Tamboli in the OpenSource for you Aug 2020 edition. In today’s times where perceptions are more relevant than actual deliveries this insight articulates well on adoption of new technology. Posting an extract verbatim from the insight published in the magazine.

At present, many Al solutions are pure junk

Our over-enthusiasm for new technologies has somehow colluded our quality expectations. So much so that we have almost stopped demanding the right quality solutions. We are so fond of this newness that we are ignoring flaws in new technologies. This attitude is encouraging subpar solutions day by day, resulting in a pile of junk solutions, which is growing faster than ever. The disturbing part of that is those who are making subpar solutions are unable to understand this issue either.

Shouldn’t we be challenging junk AI solutions?

Merely pushing for more technology solutions without paying attention to quality of those solutions adds a lot of garbage out in the field. This garbage, when out there in the market, easily creates disillusionment and, in turn, adds to the resistance for healthy adoption.

Quantity versus quality approach also encourages corrupt practices at customer’s expense, where subpar solutions are pushed down customer’s throat by leveraging their ignorance and an urge to give in to the fear of missing out (also called as FOMO). This is especially true with several technologies that are going through the hype cycle; AI is one of them.

The problem with these low-quality solutions is that flaws in subpar techs do not surface until it is too late! In many cases, the damage is already done and may be irreversible.

Unlike many other technologies, where things work or do not work, there is a significant grey area with Al solutions that can change shades over a period. Moreover, if we are not clear in which direction that will be, we end up creating junk. This junk essentially means someone somewhere has wasted a lot of money in creating and nurturing these solutions. It also indicates that several customers may have suffered or have had negative experiences, courtesy junk solutions.

We not only need to challenge the quality of every solution but also improvise our approach towards the emerging technologies in general,

Al included.