AI is a business asset nobody’s too sure how to use outside number crunching and streamlining routines. Big accountancy firms like Price Waterhouse Coopers apparently like it and are projecting massive economic growth.
Maybe at the accounting level, this is all good and works well. The new issue is that AI is now the fix for everything from basic bookkeeping to leadership.
If business is about anything but money, it’s about practical cynicism. There’s not enough of that.
I can see it now – “I journeyed to the land of the bot, and these revelations were vouchsafed me.”
Let’s not be pointlessly negative, though. Before I go on with this, there are some deliverable positives, too:
Improving access for people with disabilities.
Scam watching and portfolio management – An odd mix
Security and at least some belated acknowledgment of the risks posed by universal AI
Basics like Microsoft Copilot on Office 365
This is all relatively healthy, fundamental, and personal business stuff. It’s not all disasters-in-waiting. You’ve got your toy, now figure out how to use it. The end of the world is apparently still at the theoretical stage.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cynical. Things are way too rose-colored in way too many areas. Elsewhere, AI as the future of wealth management and similar ditties are slithering in to a pretty vague vision of the future.
Bear in mind that wealth management can be a hair-trigger environment, particularly on the markets. AI is supposed to have an instant solution for whatever happens. Well, does it? If it doesn’t, why not?
This is huge money, “managed” by software which has its own built-in priorities written by someone else. You’re not managing those priorities. You’re managing the software. See any possible multi-billion dollar issues?
Businesses are getting an overload of non-information. It’s almost exactly like the emergence of the internet and personal computers. Theory is yelling, facts are whispering.
Perhaps much worse – AI, which is actually a lot of different, non-standardized “whatever” entities of varying degrees of ability, is the new beige. There’s a décor element, like a new car or kitchen. This year’s AI won’t be next year’s AI. It’s a bit too predictable. Your AI might, and eventually will, get outperformed by a competitor’s AI.
On this basis, you’re supposed to do business.
Really?
Skepticism is definitely not in high demand. The New Yorker ran an article called There is no AI, which is pretty effective as an argument against the hysteria. The NYer article argues that AI is just code, which is quite correct.
There’s also the large amount of bad information which AI can source to be considered. An AI version of QAnon, a sort of AI random word association app, is quite possible.
Can AI cross-check and fact-check? Who knows? If this translates into buying a few billion bucks’ worth of non-existent condos in Florida on a global scale, you DO have a problem. You can see why and how easily this can be a minefield for business.
Much less impressive, and certain to impact businesses is a move to water down EU legislation putting curbs on AI. This includes the use of AI for things like face recognition, social scoring like China’s social credit system, and other issues. The irony is that these things are already subject to statutory law and can incur serious legal liabilities. The new laws are just about AI doing those things.
Another, supposedly obvious element in this mix is the fact that external parties exploiting AI is inevitable. Many major businesses are under cyber siege and have been for decades. AI isn’t yet proven to be able to manage any of these issues.
Can you get business intelligence from a competitor’s AI? Probably. Will everyone try to do that? Definitely. Is that good or bad? This is immature tech; it hasn’t had time to learn cyber karate. Self-defense capabilities could be anything, or more likely, nothing.
AI is quite likely to create as many problems as it solves. It’s efficient, yes. That also means it can generate problems just as efficiently. Either AI is a blessing or a curse, and there’s no clear definition of either.
Naivete CANNOT be an option.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
