Welcome back, Insiders!

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the coming of the robots. Consider this week is a follow-up to that story. The robots are coming…but humans are still here and very necessary. 

To state the obvious, robots are not humans. An impressive AI app is not a human brain. Sure it can calculate significantly faster than a human, but it can never adequately explain the feeling of holding your newborn. (Though to be fair, can anyone?) It will never replicate a warm hug. It can tell you that cut grass “has a pleasant, fresh scent that many people find enjoyable.” But it has no childhood memories to describe the smell of cut grass as a long summer day.

AI can do many impressive things like: 

⛳ Make The Master’s more exciting for even non-golf enthusiasts. 

⚽ Power soccer-playing robots.

🍺 Craft better beer.

When coupled with stories of AI shrinking workforces and AI passing creativity tests, it’s easy to understand why people fear AI. 

But before you despair in a pint of AI-enhanced beer, there is growing evidence to suggest AI is not apocalyptic. 

🧠 Gary Marcus writes: Superhuman AGI is not nigh.

📏 Allison Synder of Axios offers this measured take: AI’s flawed human yardstick.

🤨 The Wall Street Journal reassures that AI is not as ubiquitous in the business world as you probably think.

👻 And even ghost kitchens – which were supposed to be the savior of post-pandemic restaurants - are now falling out of favor. See The New York Times or Business Insider. 

Why? Because where AI really excels is augmenting human workers. When looking for productivity gains, enterprises need to focus on increasing efficiency. This will take collaboration between humans and machines and a better understanding of what type of AI is best suited for the job. 

In a recent Rockwell report on the “State of Smart Manufacturing,” it’s clear ROI is a concern, but according to Dennis Scimeca of Industry Week, survey results suggest that “manufacturers might still be confused about the different types of AI and what they do...Can we truly understand the value of AI to the industry until this confusion clears up and we stop talking about 'AI' generally and begin talking primarily or only about specific use cases?” (Read the rest of the article below.)

It’s not just in manufacturing, AI in retail is rife with gaps in AI expectations vs. reality. Below you can read why one CEO notes, “It’s a misunderstanding that AI and other tech means that stores can hire fewer workers.” 

Both of these examples are why we work so hard to educate enterprises about the unique power of Vision AI. 

Vision AI is particularly suited to enhance human resources by providing a real-time visual audit across processes to improve efficiency. It can immediately alert workers to machine downtime, bottlenecks, defects, and more. It works in conjunction with human staff to provide measurable, dramatic operational improvements. 

AI isn’t going anywhere. And yes, it is getting faster, becoming more nimble, and can do increasingly complex tasks, but it cannot, and will never be, human.  

It can help make better beer but it will never know how perfectly it hits on the first warm spring evening surrounded by friends. Cheers, humans!  🎉