A Flip Phone to Smart Phone Type of Moment

Lately, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding AI and bots, and I have been trying to understand why. It seems like every news article, social media post, and earning report mentions AI in some way or another. To me, the hype around bots feels similar to when smartphones first came out and started to replace flip phones. The iPhone, in particular, was not the first or the best smartphone, but it was the easiest to use, and that's why it became so popular. I predict the same will be true with AI and bots.

When I use the term AI, I am referring to bots that specialize in certain areas, not general AI or human equivalent intelligence. While bots are a subset of the field of AI, the term AI is often used broadly for marketing purposes.

So why the big hype about bots recently? There have been several advancements in AI and bot software in recent years that have made them more accessible and useful for public consumption. Here are some differences between the current AI and bot use and their past use:

• Improved Natural Language Processing (NLP): The recent advancements in NLP have made it easier for bots and AI to understand and respond to natural language. This has led to the development of more conversational bots that can understand and respond to user queries in a more natural way.

• More advanced machine learning algorithms: Machine learning algorithms have improved significantly over the years, making it easier to build more accurate and reliable AI and bot software. This has led to the development of more intelligent bots and AI that can learn from their interactions with users and improve over time.

• Increased availability of cloud computing resources: The availability of cloud computing resources has made it easier and more affordable to build and deploy AI and bot software. This has made it possible for smaller businesses and individuals to create and deploy AI and bot software without the need for expensive hardware and infrastructure.

• Integration with messaging platforms: Bots can now be integrated with messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Slack, making it easier for users to interact with them. This has made bots more accessible and convenient for users.

So, what's next for AI and bots? I believe that we will see advanced specialized bots dedicated to certain areas of knowledge, disciplines, and tasks. While some speculate that a true General AI is still years away, bots will continue to simplify work and make many tasks easier for humans. Whatever that time period true General IA is, it will make little difference to most people as they adapt to the way we all interact, share data with, and begin to trust the bots that technology has bestowed on us. Bots that have little regulation, minimum standardization, and suffer from accessibility will continue to spread bias, raise privacy concerns, and security issues. These concerns about bias, privacy, and security will require more regulation and standardization soon, before the technology is so embedded and we are so dependent upon it in our daily life that we forget how to function without it. Think that's a stretch? Ask yourself this: When's the last time you left home without your smart phone?

So why the glut of people using and discussing bots if so many issues? Because bots simplify work. Bots make many tasks easier. Humans will ignore many rules, regulations, privacy issues, and sometimes common sense if it means that they can get their job done faster and with less effort. I see this in information security all the time, and don’t see any changes coming to us humans in this area any time in the near future. If history tells us anything, how these issues will be addressed depends on how the leading companies are moving forward to build and maintain a large user base for their AI software and how they monetize it.

To succeed in the bot market, companies will need to raise their adoption, accessibility, and feedback through a fully owned and controlled hardware and software ecosystem. However, there are differences this time around, as the base knowledge and requirements to utilize AI and bots at scale are more extensive than ever before. Scaling AI requires an entire cloud infrastructure, and running AI on local hardware can be limiting. We at Eight Buffalo Media Group have several servers running different neural networks and open source AI bots. Running AI on local hardware is great to control costs and simplify management of systems when getting started, but even our beefy custom servers suffer from resource constraints when you want to scale past one user. Additionally, developing bots is similar to running a complicated web platform that requires many different software components, libraries, data sets, and checkpoint models to be available to support the process of training, testing, and feedback.

In conclusion, while the future of bots and AI is still uncertain, their increasing popularity and widespread use is inevitable. As AI and bot technology continue to evolve, it is essential to understand the technology and address the ethical and regulatory concerns that come with their use.