Over the last few years, mentions of artificial intelligence (AI) in tech news portals rose to an all-time high. From new uses to its impact on the future of business, the number of articles about AI has multiplied to a point where it practically dominates the landscape. It’s hardly surprising, though—AI has tremendous potential and some of it is starting to crystalize.
Unfortunately, having so much information about AI also means there are plenty of myths and overstatements floating around. In fact, many businesses are still studying their AI adoption plans because of the misinformation they are finding online or the failure stories surrounding AI that plague the internet. That’s why it’s important to clarify certain aspects of AI. On one hand, it allows businesses to make more informed decisions. On the other hand, it encourages them to start their AI journey with increased optimism.
Here are 5 of the most widespread myths about AI—and the truths they hide behind them.
1. You Have to Adopt the Most Sophisticated AI
AI’s capabilities are growing with each passing month, so it’s natural for businesses to think that the solution to all their problems lies in the latest and most sophisticated iteration. It makes sense—a powerful AI should be able to handle large amounts of data from multiple sources, offer quick and relevant insights, and perfectly adapt to all systems. That’s why companies want that sophistication.
The truth: While a mature AI can do all of that (and more), the reality is that adopting a sophisticated AI isn’t a plug-and-play kind of thing. You have to build on more basic AI solutions until you reach a maturity level that can cover all that ground. Besides, you don’t necessarily need the most sophisticated AI around. Maybe your tech challenges are easily solved with a more basic AI algorithm, so you shouldn’t always aim for the most sophisticated alternative out there.
2. The AI Algorithm Needs to Be Custom Made
There are plenty of benefits in using a custom-made solution, but there’s mainly the security that it will be a perfect fit for the challenges the business is trying to solve with its implementation. That reasoning also applies to AI, which is why so many companies think about investing in custom-made algorithms to make sure they get the most out of this technology.
The truth: we might be devoted to building custom-made tech solutions for a wide variety of challenges, but at BairesDev, we know that not all pain points call for a custom solution, especially when it comes to AI. Artificial intelligence has many generic solutions that can easily solve certain problems, such as chatbots or speech-to-text translation tools. What’s more, those solutions can even serve as a foundation to develop more sophisticated applications. That means that you don’t necessarily have to invest in costly tailor-made solutions because maybe there’s already an AI solution that can do what you want to do.
3. Building the AI Is the Most Difficult Part
Creating a working AI solution is a tall order. That’s because the team needs deep technical skills, high creativity levels, and considerable business experience to come up with an application capable of addressing different needs. That’s why people believe that, once you are done with AI development, you can sit back and relax while the AI starts providing value on its own.
The truth: There’s no such thing as a “sit back and relax” phase when it comes to AI development. That’s because AI needs constant attention to evolve and become a more sophisticated and valuable solution. Sure, you’ll find many challenges when building an initial AI solution, but you’ll quickly realize that there’s no relaxing here, as AI development calls for constant improvements and multiple iterations to provide real value. Thus, building the AI isn’t the most difficult part, mainly because you’ll never stop building it.
4. You Need Only a Couple of Specialists to Build an AI
When strategizing about AI development, many business owners close their eyes and think of hiring a couple of engineering rock stars who can handle the entire project with minimal input. Maybe that engineering talent only needs the input of a data scientist at some point in development, but using preexisting AI solutions and their own expertise, a couple of senior AI developers could easily work and deploy an AI solution.
The truth: it’s strange that we have to clarify this, but developing an AI solution implies more than just the ability to put the algorithm together through code. As it happens with all development projects, creating an AI solution requires a combination of tech skills, business acumen, management capabilities, and vision. It’s true that software engineers can have all those things, but the reality shows that you can only get all that by working with a capable team that has multiple roles and a clear leader who can take the work forward.
5. Everyone Needs to Implement AI as Much as Possible
Some people are saying that we’re already living in the age of AI. Thus, there’s a growing push for companies to start adopting AI right now or risk falling behind to a spot where they might never recover. The reasoning behind this is simple: When some companies start using AI, they start enjoying new capabilities that put them well ahead of everyone else. So, to stay in the race, you need to implement AI as much as possible or risk disappearing to the advances of AI-driven companies.
The truth: You don’t necessarily need to reinvent your entire process to accommodate AI. Instead, try to start applying AI where it can immediately shield results, such as using a chatbot to help with customer support or integrating AI with your CRM to sort and filter incoming communications. Starting small and building incrementally is the best possible approach to get the most out of AI, especially because it prevents you from overinvesting in a solution that might not make a difference for you.
Planning for AI, Beyond the Myths
The first step toward a successful implementation of AI in your organization is to truly understand everything about this technology. That implies comprehending AI’s potential, its limitations, and how it can actually benefit you in particular. There’s a lot of hype around AI, so this learning process is highly important to plan a valuable AI solution for your business challenges.
It’s a lot to take in, we know. That’s why at BairesDev, we offer you our AI development and consulting services. Through them, our team of AI specialists can help you better understand the technology while aiding you in the design of an AI development project that can help you meet your goals. Contact us today to learn how we do that!
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