Misguided ML Mania
It’s common for stories about AI to go down the slippery-Silicon-Valley-hype-slope with rocket boosters on. One author recently wrote:
“The productivity boosts from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are the only prudent, intelligent and manageable route to maximize data’s value.”
This is like saying semicolons are the only path to great writing. Here are a few things about data that are more important.
Well-crafted visualizations that tell stories about data. Trillions are created every year and the great ones can change the world. Florence Nightingale’s Coxcomb chart, for example.
Curating new data is critical to support global warming research, addressing the pandemic, space exploration, and humanitarian projects. Organizing it for easier exploration makes it easier to discover insights. Sometimes, ML helps.
Open-source data projects that tap the creativity of the community and unlock insights. For example, projects like Missing Maps and the Human Genome Project. Programs that leverage that data to encourage diversity and opportunity like She Loves Data.
None of these incredibly valuable data efforts require AI. AI is helpful yet optional, like semicolons.
