Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Authored By: Jonathan Wright, Chief Technology Evangelist – Keysight Technologies

The concept of intelligent machines has resulted in marketing misrepresentation, thus diluting the true power of Artificial Intelligence (AI)—especially in the software space. 

A recent Forrester report commissioned by Keysight identified a paradoxical relationship between the interest in and adoption of AI in the software space. It suggests there is a willingness to embrace AI-enablement in furthering digital transformation, but few have begun to do so. The report indicates that 45% of software executives are considering adopting AI for their software within the next three years. This contrasts with the 11% of technology firms that are currently using it today.

We are in an age of people slapping AI on a product to describe its overall functionality when it is only one subset of a small function that may use an AI algorithm that has been developed. That is despite the hype surrounding AI and the inevitable use of it in marketing to sell AI-enabled products as a magic bullet solution to every imaginable challenge. Understandably, software executives are approaching this promise with scepticism, resulting in a curious paradox.

Demystifying AI 

At the root of this paradox is a misunderstanding about what AI is, how it works and where the technology is in its development. AI technology is still in its infancy. While individual AI algorithms are excellent at sifting through data within a narrowly scoped task, these algorithms are not as well suited to more general requests. This will not continue to be the case for long, though. The advent of programs like Dall-E and ChatGPT have prompted an increasing number of conversations looking at the existential threat that AI poses—conversations that are critical to have now while AI technology is still in its early stages.

“The advent of programs like Dall-E and Chat GPT have prompted an increasing number of conversations looking at the existential threat that AI poses—conversations that are critical to have now while AI technology is still in its early stages.” 

Because AI is perceived as a black box, it is easy for fear to creep into conversations and perceptions of the technology. The ethics of this technology are being discussed in many places. Educators are questioning how to guard against students using AI to assist in writing papers. Agencies like the Pentagon and AI consortiums are focused on establishing ethical guidelines that must be adhered to in the development of AI even as corporations like Google are eliminating their “anti-evil” teams, which are tasked with ensuring the technology they are developing benefits society and is not simply being developed to test the boundaries of what is possible.

In establishing these guidelines, the hope is to avoid a Skynet situation. Equally as important, however, is opening the black box of emerging technologies and deconstructing the hyperbolic myths that arise in the absence of easy-to-comprehend information about their development and use cases.

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