AI is a SCAM – My Take on It

Let’s be honest: AI today is mostly hype wrapped in jargon, sold by marketers, and blindly worshipped by decision-makers. Here’s why I call it a SCAM — Systematic Commercial Abuse of Minds. 1. It's Not "Intelligent" Despite the name, most AI is not intelligent. It’s statistical pattern matching. It doesn’t think, it predicts. LLMs like ChatGPT don’t “understand” you. They autocomplete your thoughts based on trillions of examples. Impressive? Yes. Intelligent? No. 2. Productivity Gains Are Exaggerated AI is pitched as a magic bullet for productivity. In reality: Time saved using AI is often lost validating or fixing its output. For many businesses, the cost of integration outweighs short-term benefits. “Automation” hype rarely includes the human time needed for prompting, reviewing, or editing. 3. AI for Everything? Nonsense. Most “AI transformation” projects are overkill: A POS system doesn’t need AI. You need reliability and speed, not sentiment analysis on why a kid bought candy. AI gets thrown into dashboards just to make them look “smart”. Fancy UI, zero real value. 4. VC and Big Tech FOMO Let’s not forget the money trail: VCs pumped billions into AI startups without real product-market fit. Big Tech overhired in AI and now needs to justify it — hence, the “AI-everywhere” narrative. The public gets the illusion of progress while core tech remains unchanged. 5. It’s a Business Model, Not a Breakthrough Most current “AI” products: Lock you into proprietary APIs Sell your data to “improve models” Offer expensive subscriptions with marginal gains over basic automation The SCAM is simple: take old automation, rebrand it as AI, add a chatbot, slap a usage-based fee on it. 6. Exceptions Exist — But Rarely Justify the Noise Yes, AI is useful in: Fraud detection Medical imaging Predictive maintenance But that’s not 95% of businesses. For most SMBs or internal tools, a well-written SQL query or rule-based workflow will outperform AI. My Conclusion AI isn't a scam because it doesn’t work — it’s a scam because it’s being sold like magic, applied indiscriminately, and used as a smokescreen for poor engineering or strategic laziness. Real intelligence lies in choosing the right tools — not chasing hype. “When everyone is selling picks and shovels in a gold rush, ask yourself if there’s even gold in the first place.”

Apr 17, 2025 - 08:51

Let’s be honest: AI today is mostly hype wrapped in jargon, sold by marketers, and blindly worshipped by decision-makers. Here’s why I call it a SCAM — Systematic Commercial Abuse of Minds.

1. It's Not "Intelligent"

Despite the name, most AI is not intelligent. It’s statistical pattern matching. It doesn’t think, it predicts. LLMs like ChatGPT don’t “understand” you. They autocomplete your thoughts based on trillions of examples. Impressive? Yes. Intelligent? No.

2. Productivity Gains Are Exaggerated

AI is pitched as a magic bullet for productivity. In reality:

Time saved using AI is often lost validating or fixing its output.
For many businesses, the cost of integration outweighs short-term benefits.
“Automation” hype rarely includes the human time needed for prompting, reviewing, or editing.

3. AI for Everything? Nonsense.

Most “AI transformation” projects are overkill:

A POS system doesn’t need AI. You need reliability and speed, not sentiment analysis on why a kid bought candy.
AI gets thrown into dashboards just to make them look “smart”.
Fancy UI, zero real value.

4. VC and Big Tech FOMO

Let’s not forget the money trail:

VCs pumped billions into AI startups without real product-market fit.
Big Tech overhired in AI and now needs to justify it — hence, the “AI-everywhere” narrative.
The public gets the illusion of progress while core tech remains unchanged.

5. It’s a Business Model, Not a Breakthrough

Most current “AI” products:

Lock you into proprietary APIs
Sell your data to “improve models”
Offer expensive subscriptions with marginal gains over basic automation

The SCAM is simple: take old automation, rebrand it as AI, add a chatbot, slap a usage-based fee on it.

6. Exceptions Exist — But Rarely Justify the Noise

Yes, AI is useful in:

Fraud detection
Medical imaging
Predictive maintenance

But that’s not 95% of businesses. For most SMBs or internal tools, a well-written SQL query or rule-based workflow will outperform AI.

My Conclusion

AI isn't a scam because it doesn’t work — it’s a scam because it’s being sold like magic, applied indiscriminately, and used as a smokescreen for poor engineering or strategic laziness.

Real intelligence lies in choosing the right tools — not chasing hype.

“When everyone is selling picks and shovels in a gold rush, ask yourself if there’s even gold in the first place.”