Are we overusing AI in startups to the point of creating fake problems?
Everyone’s building “AI-powered” everything ; pitch decks, recipe generators, inbox summarizers, self-coaching apps, dog emotion detectors (okay, maybe not that one… yet).
But how much of this actually solves a real problem?
It feels like we’re entering a phase where startups throw AI at any idea just to look innovative, not necessarily useful. Sometimes it feels like we're creating problems just so we can “solve” them with AI. And ironically, this overuse might hurt the tech itself ; people start seeing AI as gimmicky or useless, when in fact it’s incredibly powerful if used right.
So here’s my question for you:
Where’s the line between creative use of AI and overuse that leads to “solutionism”?
Are we building things people need, or things that just sound cool on launch day?
Would love to hear what you think, especially if you’re building something in the AI space.
Replies
I agree with your statement "this overuse might hurt the tech itself ; people start seeing AI as gimmicky or useless..."
I have AI implemented in @Desk.Help, however, I waited to put those features in until I had real use cases for them. I also tried to avoid using the words "AI" as much as I could.
I think the explosion of AI products will settle down soon, it's really just a matter of time until the big companies with their AI services that already fit existing tech-stacks settle into their AI era. Right now there are a lot of partial products out there that assist, but don't necessarily eliminate using other services.