Hello Betamax, You hate AI. You also love AI. It's very obvious. Don't play coy. You know what I'm talking about, unless you've found a way to block out the dueling headlines. Whether your favorite issues are water and power, getting in on the investment bandwagon, or some other highly contentious world-ending crisis, the effects of modern tech, particularly AI, on today's world are being debated - and I say this without hyperbole - everywhere. The tech has become so polarizing that the ultra-left and hard right in some countries have even reached mutual agreement that AI is THE thing to hate. They do this while checking their stock portfolios for bubbles. Charles Dickens would be having a field day if he were alive today, provided he wasn't caught up in the social media wars over the use of the em-dash.  Me? As a journalist, I seriously have a hard time keeping track of all the potential AI issues. As I write this, I'm trying to keep one eye on the US bond markets and the other on the burn rates of the Big Tech companies, which seem to suddenly have become intertwined. When I finish with that, I'll probably go back to worrying about something more local, like Batam's energy supply, Johor's water issues, and Southeast Asia's sudden focus on "sovereignty," which now comes in several flavors, including data, chip, and infrastructure. This conundrum is why I've picked Elyssa Lopez's piece on the recent API obsession of Asia's telecoms as our story of the week. It seems that only a few months ago, any conversation involving API also included a not-so-short description of just what the hell they do. Now, every company I talk to is selling them. It's not just me, right? Blink, and you'll miss the next major - however fleeting - crisis. So my second pick of the week is Pranav Balakrishnan's story on SMEs and AI. This one offers a breath of fresh air, as it focuses on companies that don't want the latest in tech. OK, sure, they still want AI - especially here in Southeast Asia - but they just don't want to pay too much for it or use it to automate a social media site for their robots. Yes, that was a thing. This piece is mostly a reminder that if - or more likely when - the AI bubble bursts, the results will probably be more like the dot-com bust than the great financial crisis. I'd like to believe that this is because there are sensible people who can find reasonable and viable uses for AI. I really hope that all of this isn't just a colossal waste of time, although it's really hard to say after seeing what some of you have been doing with the tech - some of it certainly belongs in the rubbish bin. Scott Shuey, senior editor |
