At a recent Artificial Intelligence (AI) conference in Johannesburg, I watched people marvel at a robot walking across a stage.
It was an impressive demonstration of how quickly AI and robotics are advancing. But during a conversation afterwards, Tertius Zitzke, the chief executive officer (CEO) of 4Sight Holdings, a South African technology company, offered a useful reminder. Someone had to put that robot in a vehicle, drive it to the conference, switch it on and eventually put it back in its crate.
The joke points to a bigger problem with the way we talk about AI.
We are fascinated by the visible parts of artificial intelligence: chatbots, humanoid robots, copilots and sophisticated AI assistants. But some of the most consequential AI adoption may be happening in much less visible places.
Originally published by TechCabal.