--- title: "Disillusioned Businesses Discovering That AI Kind of Sucks" description: "As hype and investment in AI soars, some businesses are learning that the technology isn't reliable enough to represent their companies." date: "2024-03-28" modified: "2024-03-28" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/businesses-discovering-ai-sucks" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "chatgpt" - "generative ai" - "the digest" --- # Disillusioned Businesses Discovering That AI Kind of Sucks ![As hype and investment in AI soars, some businesses are learning that the technology isn't reliable enough to represent their companies.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Reality Check By now, it seems clear that much of the hype around generative AI is overblown — if not a bubble that's bound to burst — and some businesses that invested in the tech are learning that the hard way. The tech's drawbacks are hard to overlook. Large language models like ChatGPT are [prone to hallucinating]() and spreading misinformation. Both chatbots and AI image makers have been [accused of plagiarizing writers]() and [artists](). And overall, the hardware that generative AI uses [needs enormous amounts of energy](), gutting the environment. Perhaps most of all, according to Gary Marcus, a cognitive scientist and notable AI researcher, businesses are finding out that the tech just can't be depended on. "Almost everybody seemed to come back with a report like, 'This is super cool, but I can't actually get it to work reliably enough to roll out to our customers,'" Marcus [told *Axios*](). ## Customer Disservice That's not hard to believe. One UK company was forced to [disable its chatbot]() after it began swearing at customers and trash talking its employers. A Californian car dealership had to do the same after its ChatGPT-powered car salesman started [offering buyers $1 cars](). More grimly, an airline was forced to pay damages [after its chatbot lied to a grieving customer](), telling them that if they bought a ticket at full price to attend their grandmother's funeral, they were guaranteed a bereavement discount later. "No one wants to build a product on a model that makes things up," Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of AI consulting firm Humane Intelligence, told *Axios*. "The core problem is that GenAI models are not information retrieval systems," she added. "They are synthesizing systems, with no ability to discern from the data it's trained on unless significant guardrails are put in place." ## Bubble Trouble For these reasons and many others, some experts [have warned]() [that AI is a bubble]() like with crypto or [Dot Com startups](). Projections that AI will become an [over one trillion dollar industry]() within the next decade certainly sound reminiscent of the hubris that always comes with these booms before the busts. From a technical standpoint, meanwhile, some are skeptical that the tech will advance quickly enough to keep up with the hype, and will perhaps [undergo a lengthy period of stagnation](). Investors that have poured billion of dollars into the industry in a very short period of time, expecting a lucrative turnaround, may not have the patience to hold out. "It's easy to say, 'Oh, we're just a few months away,'" Marcus told *Axios*. "I don't think that we are in this particular case. Not because I don't think AI is or AGI is impossible, but just because \[this\] particular technology has a lot of problems." **More on AI:** *[VC Slams Sam Altman as "Megalomaniac"]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()