'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused

I hope these companies aren't in for a shock when the younger generation rejects their brands https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/920401/g...

If negative perception towards AI grows, either because of negative experiences after having it forced on them, or as people's utility bills skyrocket, or as the environmental impact becomes more apparent, they might find that what appeals to shareholders doesn't impress the people who usually pay for their products.

> PR executives say UK companies are forcing them to present ordinary automation as artificial intelligence

What a time to be alive

But it's completely different from companies adding ".com" to their name in the 90s!

2 yrs ago I saw some company raise a million dollars by saying they used AI, when what they did could easily be done with an algorithm. Many things can be algorithms, regex filters, logic or heuristics (spam detection is an example) but nowadays people want the llm to do it first, without even thinking.

I think the worst part of all this is AI managed to make software cool again while also attacking software developers for no reason at all. Instead of claiming that AI will automate everything (like hello what do you think software does?). They could have said this will create millions of new jobs by giving access to tooling that lets you create whatever you want inside of a computer and offer it up to others. I guess people just like being negative about things.

Two past co's I know well rebranded themselves as "cloud" a decade ago with a narrow definition

In 2005 there was one particular cyber security company that comes to mind that had AI claims on their front page. It was a perl script.

I seriously thought "AI washing" was going to be scrubbing all references to AI in public-facing documents.

Around 2013, yahoo news interviewed one of the executives at my company. You could literally see my team in the background when he said we did "Big Data". I still don't know what it was supposed to mean. Anyway, a $1.1 billion exit followed shortly after.

I'm doing Quantum Crypto AI next.

My favourite is Allbirds that pivoted from eco friendly shoes to AI infrastructure. How do you even make that decision?

Every consultant at every consultancy firm is now suddenly an AI expert.

In actuality AI is the consultant.

I'd love to read the mind of an investor that actually falls for this shit. Who actually thinks that Allbirds will see much higher returns because they "have an AI graphics division?"

I like AI, but seriously, who actually invests on this basis? Where is the critical thinking? I don't feel sympathy for any investor that gets rug pulled on this stuff.

Of course most companies can't effectively surf the wave of an extremely rapidly evolving technology. They all want to look like they are, though.

So a company's success today may depend on how clickbaity their business model is.

This has been pathetic to watch in general and first hand at the companies I've been at lately. Management scrambling to find anything to throw AI to, resulting without exception in embarrassing demos. I'm excited about AI but not this whole circus.

I'm seeing the exact same thing with colleagues past and present on LinkedIn. They know how to use Claude, so their titles are now "AI tech lead" or "Lead AI engineer" or whatever, even though they're still just building the same basic CRUD they've built their entire careers.

Funny how few companies are rebranding themselves as Blockchain companies anymore. Tech trends crack me up. Greed is shameless.

Do you guys remember when everything tried to become blockchain too? :’)

I heard an anecdote from a good friend about the opposite side of this. He manages a pub/restaurant and has a neat story about how this has changed.

At the height of COVID, food photography was very important. Because of distancing requirements and his kids health, he didn’t really have access to hiring photographers and so he invested in a good camera and a tripod, and started to learn to be restaurant’s photographer. Six years later and he’s still the photographer but he’s back to using an iPhone and he’s forgotten a lot about composition because obviously not AI generated has become a differentiator.

I just hope there's .ai domains for all of them.

A while back we ran out of .com domains and that burst the bubble. Or something like this.

There was a line in one of The Walking Dead TV show spin-offs, something like:

”I've known men who inspire fear. Do you know what they have in common? They never say how frightening they are.”

And here we are.

”I’ve known companies that work on AI. Do you know what they have in common?...”

It will be challenging for non-tech people to present themselves as tech.

Especially those who have not implemented software in businesses trying to suddenly boil the ocean with AI.

AI remains a great step forward to help businesses benefit from technology, with more than one competency around the table.

There's this new misplaced belief that most how of stock market works is by fooling the stock market with short term plays like this rebranding and then cashing out. Its attractive and speaks to the cynic in us.

The article gives three examples

- Allbirds, a shoe company

- A genetics company marketing that it is using AI

- a property tech company using AI to create 3rd landscapes

The Allbirds one is just financial re-engineering. The others are reasonable?

I think a lot of people are secretly wishing for AI to be like the crypto grift but are in for a rude shock when it is definitely not going to end up like that. We will see more and more companies become AI driven and produce AI products.

To think otherwise is naive.