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Software outfits exaggerating AI claims

by on20 July 2017


Riding the hype cycle


Beancounters at analyst outfit Gartner claim that software companies are exploiting the current artificial intelligence craze by exaggerating the role of AI in their products.

Gartner, which tracks marketing bollocks with a tool it calls the Hype Cycle, called the process "AI washing." In a report it said that it is similar to what the software companies used to do with “greenwashing”.  Greenwashing was exaggerating the environmental-friendliness of their products or practices for business benefit. It was very popular before President Donald Trump ruled that climate  warming was a global “fake news” and that ocean levels would not rise because the bible said there would be no flood.Trump's tweets made global warming disappear along with the need to appear cool by being green. 

Gartner said that more than 1,000 vendors say their products employ AI, but many are "applying the AI label a little too indiscriminately". What many software companies are calling AI is just automation and not particularly intelligent. Most of these techniques have been in use since the 1960s.

However it will cause the world a few problems, particularly when the real AI shows up. Gartner's Jim Hare said in a release issued for the firm's report that the exaggeration risks souring companies on AI before it really gets started and diverts attention from the important task of getting AI right, like making sure accurate data is entered into machine learning algorithms.

"As AI accelerates up the Hype Cycle, many software providers are looking to stake their claim in the biggest gold rush in recent years," Hare said.

Last modified on 20 July 2017
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