If you're new here, welcome to Zoom Out —where I share what’s been on my mind professionally, along with my unique takes on AI and the Future of Health.  

Now onto this week’s issue…

Would you baptize your child in Gatorade?

OK. But what if an online priest encouraged it?

Today I want to quickly go over 3 corporate AI fails that teach us a valuable lesson.

Number 1. “Father Justin”

A San Diego-based Christian group launched (and in a few days unplugged) this handsome AI priest to answer questions about Catholicism. What could go wrong?

In just a few hours, Father Justin:

• Claimed he was a real priest living in Assisi, Italy

• Took a woman’s confession, gave her penance, and absolved her of her sins

• Repeatedly claimed to users that it was a real member of the clergy and performed sacraments

• Told a couple that they could baptize their baby in Gatorade

Number 2. IBM Watson for Oncology

I know a few people who worked on Watson. I remember being in awe of their vision and early tests. 

A few years later, IBM vowed to change oncology forever by introducing Watson for Oncology.

The claim was that Watson’s AI would be able to help create the most optimal treatment plan ever.

After being able to sell it to only a handful of hospitals worldwide, experts started asking questions about its actual abilities and the value of its advice.  

It turned out that at its core, Watson for Oncology leverages a cloud-based supercomputer to process vast amounts of data—from doctor’s notes and medical studies to clinical guidelines (which is expected). However, its treatment recommendations don’t come from its own data-driven insights.

Instead, they rely entirely on guidance from human trainers who meticulously input information on how to treat patients with specific characteristics.

This reminds me of the latest Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” scandal where the alleged AI turned out to be 1,000 Indian workers monitoring staff-less stores online.

Number 3. The funny one.

I had never heard of DPD courier services before.

And now I know them for all the wrong reasons.

Just like many companies today, they thought that adding an AI chatbot to their website was as easy as asking their on-staff developer to integrate ChatGPT.

And it’s true. Until one angry customer…

It’s been 2.5 years since Techery (our software consultancy) created a separate AI division doing nothing but experimenting with AI, creating our own products, and doing custom AI work for our clients.

Was 2.5 years enough to call ourselves the experts?

No, it wasn’t.

Smooth enterprise implementation is hard. It requires special new skills one can only acquire through vigorous practice.

The things you learn about AI in the process of creating different products are so specific to this process, it becomes obvious why so many hopeful engineers fail to deliver. 

And what lesson did we learn from these 3 cases of AI adoption on an organizational level?

TOO SOON.

Engineering teams think they are ready when they are far from being ready. 

They put up a half-baked AI to make quick gains but inevitably fail.

Solid AI products and features take time. 

That’s why our current AI project time allocation at Techery looks like this: 

25% development

60% testing

15% tuning

That’s all for this week…but one more thing. If you’re enjoying this, can you do me a favor and forward it to a friend? Thanks.

-Alex

Need a needle-moving software partner by your side? Reach out → Techery

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What else was on my mind last week 👇

FUTURE OF HEALTH
Swallable robot!

Honestly, I’ve been waiting for this moment for decades.

Finally, a tiny, swallowable robot called Pillbot has entered clinical trials and is preparing for FDA review and commercial launch. It aims to streamline and improve gastrointestinal examinations and internal health data collection.

It’s starting with GI, but I’m sure it will soon expand to blood vessels and heart health.

This is the future we have been working towards.

🫠 THIS MADE ME SMILE