Hype is not a strategy

When talking to organisations that want to migrate onto sovereign platforms, they often include generative AI in the list of technologies they want to make European; often when they’re not even using AI yet. It’s peer pressure and hype: they don’t need it, but everyone’s doing it, so they feel left out if they don’t pretend to.

And then there’s the cult of cool: the idea that if you criticise LLMs, you’re just an old fuddy-duddy who doesn’t get how revolutionary these things are

Not true. People who understand the technology usually have the harshest criticism for it. And young people hate the tech as much if not more than older ones. They’ve weaponised “that’s AI” as a derogatory term after all.

So, don’t feel pressured to use it. Don’t go looking for a use case just because others are dazzled (or terrified) by its shiny promise.

And don’t worry, you won’t get “left behind”. Even if it turns out to be the eighth wonder of the world, it takes less than a day to figure out how to use it.

The same goes for most apps these days: they’re solutions looking for problems. Make sure you actually need a technology before you adopt it.

Colin