Creating Artificial Stupidity Out Of Artificial Intelligence

It was, in my opinion, one of the best sessions at this year’s Annual Insights Symposium produced by NCCI last month. ‘Human Factors -- Expanding the Science of Predictive Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI),’ was presented by James Guszcza, Research Affiliate with the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

Guszcza discussed how AI is reshaping economic and societal landscapes across the nation, but he also emphasized how AI failures and data science projects that yield no economic value are a growing problem.

In particular, the phrase he used repeatedly (and to great effect), was ‘Artificial Stupidity.’ Artificial stupidity is created when AI and other technologies are employed without ‘guardrails’ and safety systems to prevent a process from completely going awry.