the AI – data ecosystem – it’s been around for a while

by Chris PehuraC-SUITE DATA — 2024/04/04

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Are you stoked about AI? Because I’m stoked about it. I wrote my thesis on AI, on syntactic pattern recognition. How to analyze waveforms, and patterns of waveforms, to see if AI could be used as a substitute for digital signal processing. These are the kinds of chips being used in all computers today. That was 30 years ago. Look at today, where AI is everywhere. Everyone’s talking about AI. Even Tim Pool is talking about AI. And that gives me a warm fuzzy about it. It makes me feel good that everyone’s talking about it. But like always, people aren’t talking about the ecosystem the latest and greatest is a part of. AI is part of an ecosystem and this ecosystem has been around for quite a while. And AI has been a part of it for quite a while.

too much sizzle, not enough steak

You wouldn’t know that this ecosystem has been around for as long as it has. Every time people talk about the ecosystem they bias it. They slant it according to the technology that they want to advocate, promote, and sell. AI is just the latest and greatest iteration. This ecosystem is data-based with lots and lots of data involved in the ecosystem. It’s made up of things like Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. Did I mention it had lots and lots of data? But at its central core are Rules, Rules on how people do things, how people think, what people assume. These rules are embedded in software code, reports, policy handbooks, and procedural manuals. These rules dictate how activities are structured, how people work together, and what they need to accomplish. Rules are the King, Queen, and Jack. You’re a Joker when you forget that.

I’m the boss of you

Rules are the core of the ecosystem. And it’s the core that dictates how all the other parts of the ecosystem are tailored and set up. The core determines how components in the ecosystem interact with each other and how they change each other. Analytics that would change AI in terms of what data it has and what models it uses. AI will change Business Intelligence, it’ll change the nature of the data, it will change Analytics.

Everybody is changing everything. But the core, the Rules, is the Lord and Master. of the ecosystem. Rules are the secret sauce. Everything else you can get off the shelf. Not those those Rules. Those Rules you developed from your culture, your people, from how you do things. They are the secret sauce. They are what make you special. They are your competitive advantage. And people aren’t talking about the Rules.

know the rules

I haven’t heard much about people talking about how AI needs to change to follow those Rules, to jive with those Rules. When people are using AI to generate courses, images, or solutions, things look right to the layman. It’s because they don’t know the Rules. They don’t know the Rules for how to make something look beautiful in marketing. They don’t don’t know what solutions work in engineering. What the AI produces is very vanilla. And when people take what AI spits out as of high quality, they’re opening themselves to crashing and burning.

the only constant is change

Anytime you add something to the ecosystem you have to tailor it to the Rules of that ecosystem and sometimes the Rules don’t jive. Sometimes it’s time to change the Rules. There’s nothing wrong with that but the Rules always remain to be the Lord and Master. They drive everything. They drive how things change in the ecosystem. They drive how things change in companies and cultures. Ecosystems have been talked about for generations. The last one was about Big Data, the Big Data ecosystem. And before that, it was things with Analytics. And before that, it was things with Business Intelligence and Data Management. The nature of the ecosystem, and how it changes hasn’t. And how the Rules drive everything hasn’t been discussed much either. They touched on it with Rule Engines a while back and had Rules consolidated on Rule Engines. But like any technology, people moved on to the next great big thing and they sort of forgot that Rules were the driving force in the ecosystem.

your takeaway?

Anytime you talk about AI you talk about the ecosystem of AI and the Lord and Master of that ecosystem, the Rules. Because if you don’t do that and just talk about AI, people are going to think of AI as its own thing. They’ll just optimize AI. They will just use AI. And they will make mistakes with AI. AI always needs to jive by the Rules. What AI producers needs to jive by the Rules. Right now, I see marketing images being pumped out that don’t look nice. I see course materials being pumped out by training houses that don’t look quite right. They’re missing that secret sauce, those key ideas. Generated solutions for AI such as hybrid models and practices look off. And in all of these cases, you wouldn’t see that or know that unless you knew the Rules of the discipline, of the field, of the business. This means the end customer and client don’t know either. So we better know our Rules because we’re going to have to communicate it to those guys.

share the secret sauce

If you don’t share at least some of the Rules with our clients — at least some of the secret sauce, they’re going to make all their big buying decisions on price alone. They won’t have the opportunity to have good products and services. This is going to be an overwhelming challenge. Everyone is using generative AI right now and it’s going to raise the bar for everything. You have to be prepared to know the Rules. Because your customers right now are buying trashy products and services at discount prices. And if you show them something of high quality, they won’t be able to tell the difference between what you’re getting at that lower price.

Be prepared to learn salesmanship and trumpet your secret sauce. Let customers know why they should buy from you.


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