By now, it seems clear that much of the hype around generative AI is overblown — if not a bubble that's bound to burst — and some businesses

Disillusioned Businesses Discovering That AI Kind of Sucks

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2024-03-30 23:00:02

By now, it seems clear that much of the hype around generative AI is overblown — if not a bubble that's bound to burst — and some businesses that invested in the tech are learning that the hard way.

The tech's drawbacks are hard to overlook. Large language models like ChatGPT are prone to hallucinating and spreading misinformation. Both chatbots and AI image makers have been accused of plagiarizing writers and artists. And overall, the hardware that generative AI uses needs enormous amounts of energy, gutting the environment.

Perhaps most of all, according to Gary Marcus, a cognitive scientist and notable AI researcher, businesses are finding out that the tech just can't be depended on.

"Almost everybody seemed to come back with a report like, 'This is super cool, but I can't actually get it to work reliably enough to roll out to our customers,'" Marcus told Axios.

That's not hard to believe. One UK company was forced to disable its chatbot after it began swearing at customers and trash talking its employers. A Californian car dealership had to do the same after its ChatGPT-powered car salesman started offering buyers $1 cars.