Welcome back, Insiders!

My family and I just returned from a trip to Japan. When we checked our bags to return home, we were asked if we wanted to use facial recognition. It was as simple as laying our passports on a scanner while looking at a screen. From that point on, at all security checks, we simply stared into a screen. We breezed in and out of Narita Airport without ever having to fumble for our passports or boarding passes. (With two kids in tow, this is significant.)

I didn’t think too long or hard about having my face registered in Japan but as we waited to board, I wondered if I should have. It’s similar to the pause I give when browsing website cookie notifications. What information do I want tracked? 

But giving permission and understanding how my data is being used makes it easier. Transparency is reassuring. 

As I sift through the latest conflicting AI news, the need for transparency is more apparent than ever.

On the one hand:

🚗 McDonald’s is getting rid of its “AI drive-thrus" after several fails – like copious packets of butter for…french fries or 10x the number of drinks anyone could reasonably drink.

🎨 Creatives are becoming less scared of AI in part because it’s just not as good. Read why human comedians still have the upper hand on AI. 

🗣️ And this: If AI is so good, why are there still so many jobs for translators? 

On the other hand, AI is getting better by the day. 

🖼️ AI generated photos are becoming harder to spot. Test your AI radar skills here. 

📱It’s not just photos. AI generated text is also improving. In fact, most people couldn’t tell the difference between human restaurant reviews and those generated by AI, nor could they distinguish ChatGPT from a human in a conversation. What’s worse, most people preferred the reviews written by bots. 😰

👩‍🏫 AI is taking over the news anchor desk in India, helping farmers get critical information about weather, commodity prices, and other information critical to their success.

Despite the conflicting news, AI is not going away and will only improve from here – making transparency paramount. Reading AI restaurant reviews feels far less nefarious, if the “writer” clearly indicates its AI. An AI-generated photo with a watermark indicating it’s not real seems like an obvious step toward curbing “fake news.” Understanding that the news anchors I’m watching are not real but only intended to keep me informed is a little weird, and also extremely helpful.  

There will always be bad actors and those who abuse technology, but establishing transparency as the norm may alleviate some of the widespread panic. Making AI some secretive, exclusive, only-understood-by-the-powerful, technology will do nothing to engender people’s trust. 

I was excited to read Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former chief scientist, is taking his commitment to “responsible AI” seriously with the recent announcement of his new AI company, Safe Superintelligence Inc. And knowing ethical AI continues to be a topic among world leaders, like at the recent G7 Summit in Europe, is encouraging. 

It’s also why alwaysAI is proud to work in Vision AI where transparency is quite literally what we do. We help provide visual transparency across enterprise processes with real-time, actionable data to make practical operational improvements. 

As we waited at our gate in Tokyo, I asked my husband if he thought most people opt-in to the facial recognition. “People's faces are everywhere. No one cares anymore.” 

A quick, not-at-all scientific study of Google search results, suggests he’s right. Articles about fears and concerns over facial recognition peaked in 2020-2021. Since then, we’ve gotten used to (or are resigned to) the fact that facial recognition is everywhere and in most cases, makes our lives easier (unlocking our phones, accessing apps, in airports, etc.).

Hmmm…new technology we once feared, now making our lives easier. Sounds familiar.