One of the most exciting, ground breaking and frankly slightly terrifying emerging technologies at the moment is the ready availability of Artificial Intelligence. Specialist hardware and expertly crafted software combine to produce some truly inspiring applications and recruitment agents are clambering to find staff that are capable of heralding this new dawn of computing.
Little wonder then, the term has become a frequently over-used buzz-word used at the hands of corporate and start-up marketing teams. Dozens of apps are now touting their brand-new AI Driven interfaces, that make it easier for you to schedule meetings, book flights and do more than you could ever before.
Problem is, a significant number of these fail to be any more than simple 'IF / THEN' statements or basic database queries.
Take Uber for example. They recently announced they plan to use "advanced AI" to predict demand and if you've requested a lift home after a night of drinking (they've even gone as far as patenting their idea, which is just plain ridiculous). Admittedly, this information is second-hand by the time I received it, but even if it were to determine whether you've had a few drinks it doesn't (shouldn't?) take any more than a few lines of code.