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I tried convincing the business developers and marketing for years that what we did was machine learning, applied statistics or gulp “data-driven” functionality

I tried convincing the business developers and marketing for years that what we did was machine learning, applied statistics or gulp “data-driven” functionality - but no, only thing that worked was “<Company> AI Engine”... hurray for throwing my PhD at the wind...

whatshisface 6y ago
What something is has almost no relationship to what sales could be the most successful calling it. That's a consequence of the lamentable but maybe unavoidable fact that so rarely are customers experts in what they buy.
anonu 6y ago
Unfortunately marketing is everything. Engineers like to build nice shiny things without much of an eye on how to sell it. If you can slap "AI" on it and make some $, then why not? The end customer may not really care. Its not exactly like calling an apple "organic". Theres no certification process or consensus on what AI actually is or means.
- gspr 6y ago
  We, the people doing the actual work, have a moral responsibility to resist our work being dishonestly marketed. And certainly a moral responsibility not to engage in it ourselves.
  - colesantiago 6y ago
    usually marketing always wins. I remember when 'GANs' were 'marketed' as 'deepfakes' to the public and watched it enter the english lexicon.
  - ku-man 6y ago
    Well said. If we consider ourselves engineers we should always have the public as our first responsibility.
reaperducer 6y ago
only thing that worked was “<Company> AI Engine”... hurray for throwing my PhD at the wind... You're lucky it didn't end up being "<Company> AI Blockchain."
Sebb767 6y ago
The alternative is to go full buzzword - we, for example, host our code on the blockchain [0] - and get technical in some lower layers of marketing or documentation, so that people who actually know what they're looking for can find out. [0] git, that is. Yes, git is technically a blockchain.

whatshisface 6y ago

What something is has almost no relationship to what sales could be the most successful calling it. That's a consequence of the lamentable but maybe unavoidable fact that so rarely are customers experts in what they buy.

anonu 6y ago

Unfortunately marketing is everything. Engineers like to build nice shiny things without much of an eye on how to sell it. If you can slap "AI" on it and make some $, then why not? The end customer may not really care. Its not exactly like calling an apple "organic". Theres no certification process or consensus on what AI actually is or means.

gspr 6y ago
We, the people doing the actual work, have a moral responsibility to resist our work being dishonestly marketed. And certainly a moral responsibility not to engage in it ourselves.
- colesantiago 6y ago
  usually marketing always wins. I remember when 'GANs' were 'marketed' as 'deepfakes' to the public and watched it enter the english lexicon.
- ku-man 6y ago
  Well said. If we consider ourselves engineers we should always have the public as our first responsibility.

reaperducer 6y ago

only thing that worked was “<Company> AI Engine”... hurray for throwing my PhD at the wind... You're lucky it didn't end up being "<Company> AI Blockchain."

Sebb767 6y ago

The alternative is to go full buzzword - we, for example, host our code on the blockchain [0] - and get technical in some lower layers of marketing or documentation, so that people who actually know what they're looking for can find out. [0] git, that is. Yes, git is technically a blockchain.