Ask Chloé: Is the Term ‘AI’ Controversial?
Welcome to the Ask Chloé column on Security Boulevard! Each week, Chloé provides answers to readers’ questions to help guide them as they navigate the technology industry. This week, Chloé offers advice to an InfoSec marketing professional struggling with a controversial term—AI.
Dear Chloé,
I was wondering if you could share reasons why the term ‘AI’ is controversial? We tend to use the term ‘AI’ frequently when marketing our security product. We find it’s a great term that generates sales and sparks conversations. But we also see technical members within the company that are against the use of the ‘AI’ term. Any suggestions or actions that marketing can do?
-Confused AI Marketer
Dear Confused AI Marketer,
There are several reasons why you might hear objections to using the term ‘AI‘ in marketing. The main one is understanding that true AI does not exist yet. We are getting there, but we’re not quite there yet. The term, then, has been used (or misused) as a buzzword for thousands of products that simply provide automation.
True AI does not mean the same thing as automation or machine learning. Usually, when marketing products, marketers may use the buzzword when what they probably mean is ‘automation’. When we develop these products, we are programming actions for the product to complete based on triggering events—this is automation. Or marketing teams may use the term AI when they actually mean machine learning. Machine learning uses data analysis to connect patterns and trends to improve their performance over time. This is, once again, different than AI.
True AI finds solutions for problems in a way that is similar to how a human being processes information. Human beings and animals look for trends and patterns but combine those with information from other sources to determine the best solution. When true AI does arrive, we will have a technology disruption. This would include, for instance, AI starting a company of its own, which would be a game-changer, to say the least.
Until then, maybe it’s best to refrain from using the marketing buzzword and use more respected (and accurate) terms to actually describe products. Additionally, I highly recommend that marketing team members ask the technical members within the company for terminology substitutions that better match the product.
Learn more about the award-winning tech changemaker, Chloé Messdaghi, at https://www.chloemessdaghi.com.
Have a question? Want advice? Submit your anonymous question to Chloé: [email protected].
