[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/why-ai-is-dumb-for-now\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/why-ai-is-dumb-for-now\/","headline":"Why AI is Dumb… For Now","name":"Why AI is Dumb… For Now","description":"If we can all agree on one thing in these polarized times, it\u2019s that we\u2019re on the cusp of an artificial intelligence revolution. The technology is already reshaping our daily interactions and changing the way that many of us do business. It\u2019s also remarkably dumb\u2014at least for now. Hear me out on this, AI aficionados, … Continue reading Why AI is Dumb… For Now<\/span><\/a>","datePublished":"2018-08-21","dateModified":"2026-04-16","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/author\/jana-legaspi\/#Person","name":"Jana Legaspi","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/author\/jana-legaspi\/","identifier":8,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba3039ce7c5eedb92f315518b69aea1d90d5c2076ce893d078c6f29cf6ddd032?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba3039ce7c5eedb92f315518b69aea1d90d5c2076ce893d078c6f29cf6ddd032?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AOK Marketing","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AOK-Marketing-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AOK-Marketing-Logo.png","width":126,"height":53}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Blog_Posts_AI_Differences_01.png","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Blog_Posts_AI_Differences_01.png","height":560,"width":780},"url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/why-ai-is-dumb-for-now\/","about":["Adwords","Online Marketing Essentials"],"wordCount":798,"keywords":["AdWords Optimization","AI"],"articleBody":"If we can all agree on one thing in these polarized times, it\u2019s that we\u2019re on the cusp of an artificial intelligence revolution. The technology is already reshaping our daily interactions and changing the way that many of us do business.It\u2019s also remarkably dumb\u2014at least for now.Hear me out on this, AI aficionados, because my recent experiences using deep learning for marketing purposes have both reinforced the technology\u2019s incredible potential, but also its very human limitations.Catastrophic ForgettingThe first constraint sounds bad, because it is: catastrophic forgetting.No, that\u2019s not what you do when you get very old or become overwhelmed when balancing business and personal responsibilities\u2014also known as the daily reality for entrepreneurs with busy family lives. It turns out that AI is quite forgetful.Once you train an AI system to do something, then train it to do something else, it has the potential to \u2018forget\u2019 the first task it was taught. That requires you to step back and have the system re-learn the original task all over again.This is a particularly maddening process for marketers who assumed that AI would take the heavy lifting out of tedious everyday tasks such as detailed market research, freeing their time to focus on high-margin, creative duties.I see this play out every day when my firm taps Google Ads\u2019 search algorithm to market our clients\u2019 businesses. We\u2019ve noticed that if you change an ad, even if it\u2019s very similar to a previous one, the system can\u2019t cope and must typically start learning all over again. Let\u2019s say your ad says the following:\u201cHey Mike how are you doing today?While the previous one read:\u201cHey Mike, how are you doing today?\u201dThe changes to these two sentences are so subtle they\u2019re barely noticeable. But they\u2019re enough to fool software that at this point lacks the problem-solving skills to recognize that your ad, posted on different days, is trying to say the same thing but without the same punctuation. From the perspective of the machine\u2019s algorithm, however, they\u2019re completely different phrases and therefore need to be input as completely new advertisements.This is only one instance of AI ineptitude, of course, but it\u2019s an important one\u2014most small and medium-sized businesses use Google tools to market their products or services at some point or another.AI\u2019s limitations can pose a significant challenge for SMEs with limited marketing resources or a small internal staff that lacks the expertise to manage a dynamic search engine marketing platform.Garbage In, Garbage OutAnother important AI observation: the potential output is only as good as the information input. This isn’t necessarily an AI only problem, but for anyone who has ever done even rudimentary computer programming, this makes perfect sense.Trouble is the information we\u2019re putting into these systems are making them dumber\u2014and that\u2019s not the machine\u2019s fault. How, you ask?Let\u2019s say you have a warehouse, and there are a dozen people picking and packing goods for shipment each day. You input all the information about their daily activities into the system and tell the system to optimize their processes. And it does, but only to a certain point.That\u2019s because it\u2019s a machine and isn\u2019t quite as smart as it first seems. It will take the data that\u2019s input into it, but will also account for the laziness, mistakes and flaws of the humans it\u2019s analyzing, before modelling out that behaviour in an \u2018optimized\u2019 process map.It May Actually Be The TeamThe result is average performance on an exponential scale because the machine\u2019s output reflects the team\u2019s mediocrity.In effect, inadequate data inputs are putting a man-made ceiling on AI\u2019s potential benefits.To solve the problem, carefully analyze the inputs into your AI-powered systems and determine how they should be optimized. In effect, your software must be taught to recognize \u2018good\u2019 versus \u2018bad\u2019\u2014or inefficient and unproductive\u2014behaviour.The \u2018good\u2019 input data should be a reflection of the exceptional performance of your company\u2019s top performers. Their performance should be the baseline data used to teach the system.And that\u2019s why AI is dumb, at least for now. It\u2019s limited by human flaws and can only be pushed as far as we can manage to filter out our own bad habits, develop best practices and procedures and take the time to input them into deep learning systems to produce the business outcomes we want.Remember: these systems are improving. They can\u2019t quite be relied upon to transform most businesses right now, but that could all change in just a few short years."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Why AI is Dumb… For Now","item":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/why-ai-is-dumb-for-now\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]