Ok, I understand. AI is the latest buzz word.

But do we really need every minor technological introduction or update to be ‘AI controlled . . .’

I was surprised how many mainstream news feeds commented on the Princess of Wales ‘AI manipulated family photo’.  What ever happened to the derogatory term – ‘photoshopped’.

The same applies with cars.

Hardly a week goes by without the latest AI update to improve battery life, charging time, air-con efficiency or route to the pub.

And most of it is basic mathematics. In a little equation.  Opps sorry, ‘in a little algorithm,’ my mistake.

We didn’t shout in wonder every time the sat-nav software updated and gave us a different route because the A34 was blocked. No, why?  Because it’s not AI. It is created a different result from a predetermined set of parameters, that happened to change.

And that’s what 90% of these purported AI advances are.  “The machine has worked it out. It learned!, ooooooh”.  Er, no.  The parameters of the equation changed that’s all.

AI has to learn the parameters and the initial question. Not just calculate.

But then it does sound good in marketing terms. Something new and shiny to shout about 🙂

We have done a number of campaigns this year where the customer can – “come down and, in addition to the £4,000 discount we’re offering, see the latest AI on the new XYZ EV rocket”

I’m not really moaning.  But it does make me smile. As they say, “nothing is new under the sun”, and AI is just the latest way to make something sound ‘new’, and therefore attractive, and therefore worth buying.

Interestingly – If you forget the early paper based systems, would you say the 1987 Toyota CD driven sat-nav, or the 1990 Mazda GPS sat-nav was the first ‘production’ satellite navigation system? What do you think?

I hope you’re all having a busy March.