AI’s Shortcomings and Why it Won’t Affect Website Designers Anytime Soon

Emma Goldstein
Nov 6 · 3 min read

Over the last thirty years, millions of future-minded people have carved out niches online and in the tech industries. If you believe what the online media is telling you, all these roles are about to be washed away in a Terminator-esque techpocalypse of industry-quaking AI tech. This is why that’s not about to happen any time soon.

The Promise of AI

Over the past few years, artificial intelligence has been the buzzword in tech, futurist and corporate circles. AI promises to fix labour problems in every area, and in plenty of industries is already doing just that.

By effectively maximising the reach and efficacy of software to get a litany of tasks done, corporations are already experiencing the scope and benefits of AI. In reality, it’s just the beginning.

AI can form the core of tech that builds accessibility and convenience previously the sole preserve of coders, developers and those talented few. This is going to mean massive disruption for tech workers and engineers. Something else on the horizon to worry about, great.

However, as with almost any new and much-touted technology, AI overpromises and under-delivers. As in the instance of the Indian start-up that in 2019 attracted $30 million in funding for their AI-based app development software, only to reveal that all the AI was currently doing was delegating coding tasks to overworked developers in India and Pakistan.

Despite obvious setbacks and shortcomings, AI does pose a threat of massive disruption to almost all industries. Corporate funding is going to continue being thrown at AI until it reaches maturity. The value of AI to big business is stated to be anywhere up to the trillions of dollars.

Look at AI’s Timeline

If all that sounds worrying to you as a developer, web designer or online worker, you’re justified feeling that way. However, one thing to take massive reassurance from is no doubt AI’s current timeline.

Remember the good old days of admiring technophiles attempting to show off their iPhone 4 Siri voice recognition, only for it to provide nothing but hilarious offerings. Let’s not even go into the racist debacle surrounding early facial recognition (which, incidentally, seems to still be going on).

The point I’m making is that AI has always promised more than it can deliver. Especially with it taking so many millions of dollars in development. This is to the point where even Apple, one of the world’s very biggest tech companies, took five or so iterations and many updates to get it right.

It’s the same all over, AI is an exceedingly powerful tech idea. But even with our foot in the door, all these tech developments aren’t going to come pouring out easily. It’s going to take years and millions if not trillions in development to reach a point where it unambiguously poses a real threat to tech roles.

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