As technology advances at an unprecedented rate, now performing tasks typically reserved for human creativity, one realizes just how special human beings are and how inadequate technology can be.
Lately, we’ve been receiving a lot of press releases and startup reviews from companies with various kinds of automation technology. Text-To-Speech, automated video generation, create-your-own; website, walkthrough, newsroom!!! - No joke, sometimes these press releases come off as if they’re about to hyperventilate.
Then we review the companies and some are actually pretty cool and get good reviews. Others make one wonder at the tremendous capacity of human beings for optimism. I mean, what did you actually think would happen when you submitted this?
So why then do some automated technologies hit their mark while others perform about as well as ‘The Internship’ did at the box office?
I believe the answer lies in a fundamental understanding (or lack thereof) of what automated technology is supposed to do for us as a society. In a nutshell, it’s like this: Automated technologies are supposed to help human beings become better human beings, not help machines become better human beings.
There’s NO app for that
It’s really a rather simple idea but sometimes we get so blinded by our technological capabilities, by what we can do – we forget to ask, ‘should we do it, and why?’
Do you wanna know why Wix is so successful? It’s because they understand that there are a lot of talented people out there with some great ideas, only that their talents happen to lie in some other field, other than Web development. But everyone knows you need a website these days if you want to take your idea to the masses. So what did Wix do? They automated the Web development process, allowing their users to create ‘quality’ sites easily, freeing up their time and cash to spend on their real talents, which they can now share with the world on their brand new, high quality site.
Now, I’ve heard competitors criticize Wix by saying that their platform is too restrictive, not offering enough creative freedom of expression. I can’t blame a competitor for trying to find fault in a rival, but the fundamental flaw in their argument is that Wix is not in the business of automating Web development for talented Web developers. Their clients don’t want creative freedom with their websites. They want built in quality that will reflect the same quality they believe their actual talents possess.
But then there are companies and app developers who try and use automation to replace the humanity of a process. Take Text-To-Speech as an example. I recently came across a Text-To-Speech product to review, that was billing itself as being a great marketing tool. So I tried it out, and as this metallic voice tried to get me to buy into some markety idea it was pushing, I have to say it was kinda creepy. I felt a little like HAL was trying to get me to go check out some suspicious problem in the airlock; “Don’t worry Avi, everything will be ok 
”
Selling, marketing, creativity – these are all very ‘Human’ things, and as sophisticated as AI might be, they’re nowhere close to adequate when it come to these tasks, let alone good at them.
Best of both worlds
We recently reviewed a company called Wochit. This Israeli startup datamines sources and compiles images, text and sound to fabricate the look and feel of a professional newsroom for a publisher’s website, avoiding the exorbitant costs involved in building a real one. Pretty smart right? But does it measure up to the quality of human talent? Here’s where you see the company hasn’t fried its perspective inside all its technological circuitry. Wochit realized that Images, text blurbs and background sound are one thing, but the human element required for connecting emotionally while narrating news, is something altogether different. So the company combined a human element with its automation technology, using its own team of professionals to narrate the news. A brilliant move combining technological innovation and the uniqueness of human creativity. Bravo guys!
That’s not to say there isn’t a place for Text-To-Speech or similar technologies. Its a matter of finding the right function for it – where it will help humans become better human beings. I see it working great for university students, for instance. Helping them sum up textbooks and serving as the perfect alternative study guide. Really, can you get any more bland than a textbook? If I’m not mistaken, ‘Textbook’ is the textbook definition for dry, lifeless fact. If I had this technology during cram week in college, helping me mine key facts from study material and presenting it all in a funky video complete with funky robot voice and all – Wow.
[Disclaimer, this piece was not written by Avi Schneider, but rather by an AI designed to mimic his clever and witty writing style. Avi is currently on a Tel Aviv beach with the rest of the Geektime staff, sipping pina coladas under a cabana]