Vacuums Need AI?
When chasing a unicorn hoists technology on it's own petard (horn)
I just received an ad… and I almost choked on my coffee! The announcement that is going to shake the technology landscape is… wait for it… AI in your vacuum.
No, hold my vacuum, this is not an automated drone vacuum that cruises around your house sweeping up dirt, while also acting as a temporary vehicle for your precocious cat. This is a vacuum you yourself pushes around your house picking up dirt using organic intelligence!
What has happened… ??? !!!
Honestly, I just can’t watch or read anything coming from all the business networks. The reporting is fueling the most ludicrous pursuits of the next unicorn; and AI is gaining a head of steam so strong I pity the fools stoking the fire.
ALMOST every other story is about how tons of investment dollars are being dumped into chasing the AI unicorn. I’d like to hearken back to an earlier age. Yes, let us all remember 2001 and the DotCom Bust. This feels so similar I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions - or maybe do some soul searching until you wretch…
For me, I’ve been in tech my entire career. I have worked at, roughly, 15 startups; and I have worked at huge corporations. At every one of the startups, money and marketing has driven the direction of the technology. While that can be good, when you add chasing the next unicorn to the equation, things get really squirrelly. I lived through the DotCom Bust from beginning to end (see Vicinity to eCircles in the table above). I submit that my experiences are the reason I’ve come to this conclusion - it’s not a bias clouding reality when you’ve lived it.
Why I bring this all up is because I keep seeing the fervor and chaos in AI investment being the result of:
FOMO (fear of missing out)
Lack of understanding the technology
Inability to accept the Logic-To-Essence Ratio
The search for the next unicorn
All of this is creating a huge something out of a dark, dank, realm of nothingness. Dr. Who would be proud…
What I fear, and another reason my frustration builds, is my sense is that the DotCom Bust is coming to the AI Unicorn seekers. And, we all know how dangerous a unicorn is, right? Does everyone think that horn is all for show? Take some time and lookup the many reasons you don’t want to get close to a unicorn in the first place. A unicorn is not the most happy of campers and it’ll turn on you in an instant - that horn kills…
Please, please, take a breath and apply the following Scott Adams Rule:
It’s Too On The Nose…