As artificial intelligence continues to make headlines, some companies are being accused of “AI washing” — overstating the capabilities of their AI technology.
BBC News reports that the phenomenon of “AI washing” has been gaining attention in recent months, as more companies claim to use AI in their products and services. The term, a play on “green washing,” refers to companies making over-inflated claims about their use of AI. This can take several forms, such as claiming to use AI when using less-sophisticated computing, overstating the efficacy of AI over existing techniques, or suggesting that AI solutions are fully operational when they are not.
One high-profile example is Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology, which claims to use AI to enable customers at many of its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go shops to simply pick their items and leave, with the AI using sensors to determine what they have chosen and automatically billing them. However, reports earlier this year questioned the extent of AI’s role in the system, suggesting that around 1,000 workers in India were needed to manually check almost three quarters of the transactions. Amazon denied these reports, stating that the Indian workers were simply reviewing the system.
The rise of AI washing can be attributed to several factors, including competition for funding and the desire to appear on the cutting edge. According to OpenOcean, a UK and Finland-based investment fund for new tech firms, only 10 percent of tech start-ups mentioned using AI in their pitches in 2022, but this rose to more than a quarter in 2023 and is expected to be more than a third this year. However, as Sri Ayangar, a team member at OpenOcean, notes, “a significant disparity exists between companies claiming AI capabilities, and those demonstrating tangible AI-driven results.”
The problem is compounded by the lack of a single agreed definition of AI. As Douglas Dick, UK head of emerging technology risk at KPMG, explains, “If I asked a room of people what their definition of AI is, they would all give a different answer. The term is used very broadly and loosely, without any clear point of reference. It is this ambiguity that is allowing AI washing to emerge.”
AI washing can have concerning impacts for businesses, from overpaying for technology and services to failing to meet operational objectives the AI was expected to help them achieve. For investors, it can make it harder to identify genuinely innovative companies. And for consumers, unmet expectations from products claiming to offer advanced AI-driven solutions can erode trust in start-ups doing genuinely ground-breaking work.
Regulators, particularly in the U.S., are starting to take notice. The SEC has recently charged two investment advisory firms with making false and misleading statements about the extent of their use of AI. In the UK, rules and laws covering AI washing are already in place, including the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA’s) code of conduct, which states that marketing communications must not materially mislead, or be likely to do so.
Read more at BBC News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
