Why Executives love AI

Heads are corporations have only one job - making decisions.

Most of the heads of corporations are Ivy League products who have had things come their way throughout their lives. They make decisions that are most often just a coin toss. They make as many bad decisions as they make good ones.

Over the last couple of decades, there has been this terrible burden that has been placed upon them - the responsibility for their decisions. In their hyper-entitled lives, this is the last burden they would like to bear.

Whenever they make bad decisions most of them like to blame the market and interestingly most people are willing to lap up that garbage.

• Oil prices are high because of the market
• Workers are paid poorly because of the market conditions.
• The workforce of the company is not inclusive because of the market, we must recruit the available talent.

And this pretty much explains the newfound love for AI.

AI reduces the need for workers and brings the costs down for the company but if you were to take a look at the manufacturing industry in the face of increasing automation, arguably there has been little reduction in costs. None of the manufacturers are doubling their margins due to automation. You can go back and check the financial statements of every car manufacturer, an industry that sees one of the highest levels of automation.

I suppose the same will be true for AI as well. The cost centres will shift but the actual costs will remain the same.

The true benefit of using AI is the ability to place the blame elsewhere. In fact, AI is a black box so you place the blame where it cannot even be investigated! Thus the greatest benefit of AI is absolution. It releases corporate executives from any modicum of responsibility that is currently placed upon them.

That is the real reason for the gargantuan interest in AI.

Originally Published at Learning by Proxy