Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a staple of modern technology. High school students frequently use AI in their daily lives. However, many companies’ rushed implementation, resulting in poorly designed tools that serve as nothing more than marketing gimmicks.
Many local businesses in Marin County have tried to implement AI features into their websites. Users who attempt to resolve simple issues, like tracking orders or getting immediate help, often find themselves redirected by ineffective chatbots back to human representatives. In many cases, these chatbots are only capable of performing very simple tasks. Most of these new AI features make customer experiences worse rather than better due to poorly thought-out implementations.
The words “artificial intelligence” and its acronym are huge buzzwords in business right now. The number of S&P 500 companies that have mentioned using some form of AI in their earnings calls has risen dramatically by 300 percent between 2022 and 2023. It is becoming more common to create AI-based platforms or to integrate AI into pre-existing conventional platforms. Companies that include these cutting-edge features are more advantageous when compared to their traditional counterparts. This is because they market them heavily to their customers. According to PwC’s 2024 Pulse Survey, 73 percent of business executives said they used AI to change business models.
But once the AI craze begins to die down, people will begin to see these systems for what they truly are: poorly designed tools with risky business models that actually provide little to no real-world functionality.
To solve this problem, a new approach is necessary. One that potentially involves creating a more advanced type of AI platform, such as a centralized AI platform. This is a system where a singular AI would be connected to every application and website you may want to use. Students could have their AI automatically manage their schedule, fitting in time for sports and school work, while also prioritizing free time.
A fully centralized system would make AI usage more efficient, but it also raises fundamental concerns about freedom of information and competition. These principles lay the foundation for our country and are too important to sacrifice. Centralizing AI control under a single company could stop further innovation if people become too accustomed to one platform.
Historically, it’s not uncommon for new revolutionary technologies to fail initially. The market value for new technologies is generally unknown, causing some people to bet large sums of money on their success.
During the late 1990s, the number of internet-based companies was growing extremely fast. Labelled as the dot-com boom. Investors knew that this technology could change everything and funded these companies heavily as a result. These investments were primarily speculative, relying less on the companies’ actual value and more on their potential growth in the future. This period of speculative investing and drastic overconfidence in the market led to the dot-com crash, where many tech companies went bankrupt.
For AI integrations to provide real value, businesses must focus on creating functional, helpful integrations rather than creating surface-level solutions. This form of development will help ensure that AI-based companies do not experience a market collapse, similar to the dot-com crash. This technology would help declutter the online lives of students. AI should make users’ experiences online better, not make them more complicated.
