{"id":627296,"date":"2023-04-09T09:49:50","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T14:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/09\/ycs-latest-batch-sure-was-a-lot-of-maybe-ai-can-do-this\/"},"modified":"2023-04-09T09:49:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T14:49:50","slug":"ycs-latest-batch-sure-was-a-lot-of-maybe-ai-can-do-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/09\/ycs-latest-batch-sure-was-a-lot-of-maybe-ai-can-do-this\/","title":{"rendered":"YC\u2019s latest batch sure was a lot of \u2018maybe AI can do\u2026 this?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sitting through hundreds of startups on YC Demo Days<\/a>, you\u2019re not always sure whether you are actually perceiving patterns or if your brain, as coffee battles with monotony, is inventing them in a kind of pareidolia for business plans. This year, though, the theme was pretty obvious: \u201cAI can do that, probably! Maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly today\u2019s AI models are more capable than yesterday\u2019s, and yesteryear\u2019s. But we\u2019ve seen over and over how these systems demo well but fall down under systematic requirements or as tools with reliable and repeatable results.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard not to see this batch as the\u00a0 precursors of a coming wave of AI-powered shovelware. Pick a use case, do a little fine tuning of an available model (no one actually builds their own), cherry pick some good examples for screenshots, and bolt on a prefab UI. Congratulations, you\u2019re now the very first AI social media content generation platform for independent bars and restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa. Buy a couple hundred 5-star reviews and you\u2019re on your way!<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s not that restaurants in Cairo and Beirut couldn\u2019t use a helpful tool to gain some traction online and attract new customers. It\u2019s that having AI, as it currently exists, do something for you is kind of like admitting that it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

Creating an AI-powered conversation agent that answers the phone at your business sounds good when you frame it as a way to never lose a customer. But what does the customer think when the business they call decides AI is the reception they deserve? Personally, I would hang up and try someone else. What about a trade worker who gets an AI calling to make an appointment? Same thing.<\/p>\n

Realizing an email to you has been trivially \u201cpersonalized\u201d by AI is like being told, we can\u2019t be bothered to personalize our emails, but we want you to think we do. Wouldn\u2019t you feel tricked? It\u2019s a systematic imposture upon the customers.<\/p>\n

If your first interview with a company is with a conversation agent or a person obviously reading generated cues from the knowledge base or whatever, do you feel like a person joining a team or a part being sized up for installation? You\u2019re not even worth the full attention of a qualified human.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not necessarily the vibe I got from every AI startup in this YC batch, but I sure got it from a few of them. Here\u2019s a partial (!) list of the \u201cAI can do that, probably\u201d companies I jotted down.<\/p>\n