EDITORS LETTER AI : do we have an understanding ?
AI is going mainstream , or so we keep being told . But where ’ s the memo ?
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AI is big business . And it ’ s big for business . It has gone from being a niche area of research to a giant industry capable of all sorts of sci-fi-esque applications – self-driving cars , self-reporting plant machinery … self-reporting plants , even ( remember that emailing spinach ?).
But in the heady rush to chase after these exciting new things , a couple of details have been forgotten . One is a proper explanation of what AI is . And the other is a proper explanation – to the lay employee – of what it does .
A few things I think could be clearer : What we have taken to calling artificial intelligence is machine learning . ML is clever , but it ’ s not intelligent ; it does what it ’ s told . It is there to help people , not to take your job .
These are things that people working in technology implicitly understand , but often fail to transmit to employees who may be skittish about the prospect of working alongside – or not , as the case may be – these new robotic interlopers .
With a little bit of ( yes , rather old-fashioned ) communication , we could excite the workforce of the future about ‘ AI ’, rather than having talented , but worried , employees scanning the recruitment boards .
PADDY SMITH paddy . smith @ bizclikmedia . com © 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED aimagazine . com 3