What’s Behind the A.I. Hype Really?
Before I dive into what’s really going in with regard to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this article, let’s get one key issue out of the way first. There is no singular AI. You may have an idea that Artificial Intelligence is one big software thing. It isn’t. Doesn’t exist. It’s a marketing term for a suite of tools. Sometimes used alone, sometimes mixed up to work together. But there is no singular AI. There may be in the future. There may not be.
Right now, Artificial Intelligence might better be described as a Hyperbole Machine.
In the case of Generative AI like ChatGPT, the tool is Large Language Models (LLM). Then there’s a bunch of others like Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), Neural Networks and more. But not overarching singular Artificial Intelligence.
So what is really going on with all the hype around AI? Why are the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and others all scrambling for media interviews? Why so much hype? Let’s explore.
I have a favourite phrase I’ve applied to problems for many years now. I’m not sure who came up with it. The phrase is, “if at first you can’t find a solution to a problem, look for the financial interest.” It is a mental model, it works well when it comes to understanding the AI hype.
It becomes clearer when you set aside the doomsayers of AI and the pundits declaring utopia is five minutes away. There’s nothing inherently wrong with all the hype, but it is helpful to understand what the reality is versus doing a lot of worrying.
The financial reasons for the AI Hype
Publicly Traded Companies: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple are all publicly traded companies. Their primary role is to deliver shareholder value, known as dividends. Customer focus? In the early days. Not anymore. With consumer spending on technology slowing, they need a stock lift. If they don’t have an AI solution to bring to market after what OpenAI did, the stock will fall, dividends will fall, CEOs can lose their jobs.
Startups: OpenAI was a non-profit to start. It is now a corporation. AI (Large Language Models in this case) is very expensive to operate. Partnering with a tech giant was critical to the training phase. For OpenAI, that’s been Microsoft. Now that they seem to have a business model and are corporate, they can raise money. And deliver shareholder value.
This goes for most any early stage technology startup. You can bet that startups that didn’t have AI in the pitch deck sure do now. The venture capital has poured like mana from heaven into the bank accounts of startups. Delirious valuations, salivating investors. Herd mentality exists with savvy investors too.
Market Mover Positioning
Secondarily, but playing into the money side of things, is tech giants jostling for market position. LLM tools like ChatGPT will impact marketing as well as search. The new Bing enhanced with ChatGPT is really cool. It makes Google look like it never left 1999. Google knows this. So far, it has failed to innovate.
LLM, or Generative AI (GAI) is not about to take everyones jobs away, nor will it take over the world. That’s silly hyperbole for clickbait news headlines. But it will play a major role and could actually end up solving what Information Technology hasn’t done; increase productivity.
Academics & Non-Profits
Yes, there is significant societal risk from various AI tools like LLMs, Neural Networks and Machine Learning, especially if they are combined in novel ways. But academic institutions and non-profits serving the public good need money to operate too. Investment capital doesn’t tend to flow to them unless there’s a path to profit. Such as commercialising an AI tool.
So the watchdogs, who’s role is incredibly important right now, need to jump in. For most, it is legitimately seeking funding to do the ethics and impact research that needs doing. For others (funders), their secondary goal is to stall the first-movers while the companies that some donors support, can catch up. Elon Musk is a prime example, he’s calling for a pause but at the same time starting his own GAI company.
News, Pundits, & Industry Media
One word; clickbait. Titles about massive job losses, how business is going to change by next quarter, ChatGPT passed a bar exam or some other test drive clicks. News media themselves don’t really enjoy clickbait titles, but they need advertising revenue. FAANG companies have decimated their income. Just look at how hard it is to read an online article today wading through banner ads, pop-ups and all the rest.
For bloggers and tech industry pundits, articles on AI drive audience as well, same dichotomy as news media. This all of course, works wonderfully for the AI companies and feeds their objectives. It’s a circle thing.
A.I. Scammers & Snake Oil
The ads and posts riddle social media channels like a stream of unicorn vomit and sparkly rainbows. Suddenly, these brilliant minds can tell you how to make $100,000 a month using ChatGPT, which of course, they’ve proven in just the few months it’s been available. Or how if you use A.I a certain way you can 300x your productivity, which would translate to “hit the any key and go back to sleep and you’ll make millions.” This is all bumpf. Or B.S. if you like.
All they want is your money. It’s like MLM and pyramid schemes. The guy at the top makes the money, the rest are the suckers. Don’t be one.
So what can we take away from all of this?
Artificial Intelligence is a marketing term that is doing what it’s supposed to do. Build a capital market. Yes, Sam Altman of OpenAI may say A.I. is dangerous, but let’s go on anyway. Doom or eternal sunshine, any news is good news.
There is a ton of speculation on what AI will do, how it will change our world, either good or bad, depending on your camp. For the majority of earths population, as in 99.7%, they don’t understand AI is a marketing term and that there is no singular AI and really, they don’t care.
Most of the world is figuring out how to deal with rising mortgage and rent payments and the insane cost of food. Worried about Russia’s brutal, insane war on Ukraine going nuclear and trying to move on from three years of lockdowns and political divisions.
