AI is a hot topic, it's on everybody's lips, it's what will accelerate what we do, make it faster, smarter, better, a useful tool when used right.

But there is a not so often spoken flip side of the topic. And that's what this talk is about; to make you think, to provoke you, to put that fly of skepticism in your AI ointment.

Because, is everything getting faster, smarter, better - are we getting smarter? Or are we getting dumber, as research suggests, when relying on AI? What's the cost of using AI? Are there any issues with using AI? And if you're using AI, is it even the right AI, or are you trying to hammer in a nail with a screwdriver?

Target Audience:  Anyone using or thinking about using AI
Prerequisites: Knowledge of working with AI is recommended
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:

In the past years AI has been a prominent topic on everyone's lips, not just in the tech world, but everywhere, and recently there has been quite a bit of research and statistics done on the topic. Software testing and development conferences have increasingly focused on AI, some have even had it as the main topic for a couple of years now, companies are scared to be 'left behind' on the platform as the AI train moves along, and hence they throw themselves into AI projects without having a plan, not knowing how actually to benefit from AI.

The overall statement about AI is that it will make us faster, smarter and better at what we do, but recent research shows that depending on how you use AI your own brain is somewhat decaying, which ultimately will leave us not smarter, but dumber. At the same time OpenAI admits that hallucinating AI's are inevitable, it's how it is designed, and to be able to catch that we need to be smarter.

That said, using AI can absolutely help us, but only when we use the right AI in the right way, and again, not every company is taking that into consideration. The same goes with the inherent issues with AI. To learn they need to be trained. Many AI's constantly train on the data that are provided from us, the users. But where are they stored? Can your competitors suddenly see your secret company presentations or similar because someone used a public AI to make that presentation?

So does your company have a strategy and a policy for using AI? And does everyone know these and comply with them?

And what about the cost of using AI? Of just using a single prompt? Do you know how much power is used, and what the expected power consumption will be in a few years if we keep using AI more and more?

I will provide examples of all the above and discuss them in my talk