GenAI Diving Towards It’s Inevitable Trough of Disillusionment

Let’s take a hard look at the genAI opportunity, especially in IT solutions. Even as the number of really great AI in IT integrations rises daily, there are a number of factors we are seeing here at Small World Big Data that indicate genAI is fast heading for it’s “trough of disillusionment.” In many of the organizations we hear from (and it seems read about in every other LinkedIn article), AI has become vastly “over-hyped” as business leaders increasingly push genAI adoption almost blindly for magical returns in productivity and cost-savings.

Deep down we all must know that unfettered AI resource demand growth (power, etc) will hit some walls, driving up cost and exclusivity. Once users become truly hooked with “AI easy buttons”, AI providers will start charging back for that significantly increased (and soon competitive) resource consumption (looking at you Copilot, sneaking into everything MS!).

Productivity? For every new exciting AI application coming out offering great acceleration/amplification of a broadly skilled user’s abilities on some expert/complex or time-consuming task, the cumulative genAI tool burden is, as shown in this study, decreasing overall employee productivity, morale, and job satisfaction. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93pz1dz2kxo

Then there is an inevitable reckoning/pushback coming around data misappropriation, deep fakes, model hijacking, IP exposure and privacy concerns. Sustainability? Some are predicting a massive future issue with mountains of AI E-waste. And this Linked In post talks about the current AI platforms’ “hidden” waste. Who has the incentive to optimize AI utilization?

If you are an IT vendor with shiny new AI feature integration, check out this post – Proving “AI for IT” is Safe, Suitable and Secure …