The problem with AI is not so much AI itself, but those who insist that it’s the future right now. “Learn to use it or you will be left behind!“, “Implement it in your business right now!“, and so on. The truth is that it is still in its embryonic stage, where it tends to cause more problems. Just ask McDonald’s, which not long ago boasted about implementing AI in its McAuto services… And then had to reverse at full McSpeed.
McProblems
It was going to be the future. By 2022, one hundred McDonald’s had introduced robots that could take your order. But, surprise surprise, the machine didn’t do it as well as humans. In fact, the machines performed terribly. Imagine talking to one of the robots that appear when you call your bank, but to order instead some chicken nuggets and Coca-Cola.
Of course, the AI, by not applying logic, didn’t understand, for example, why it didn’t have to ask if you wanted bacon in your ice cream, or that “Change Coca-Cola for Mountain Dew” did not mean “Add Mountain Dew and Coca-Cola”. So, one of the first companies that embraced AI has ended up trusting humans again. At least until there’s time to set them aside and achieve more benefits, of course.
Clearly AI has and will have a lot to say about the future of humanity, especially in fields like medicine and computer science, where they will make processes simpler for developing cures and vaccines faster and better. But what most companies are coming to understand is “cheaper, fewer workers, lower quality, but who cares”.
Of course, we’ll end up ordering and preparing our menu at McDonald’s (and every other food company) from a robot while, perhaps, in some forgotten place in our minds, we will wonder “And what happened to the people who used to be behind the counter?” Maybe they will become the stuff of nostalgia. The saddest possible nostalgia.
