As a term, “AI” has become synonymous with “new”. And “new” has become synonymous with “good”. We are in an age where age is a liability. If it’s not new it’s old, and old isn’t good. And it’s all sad because it’s simply not true. But marketing teams wide and far are pushing this narrative. And I think companies are encouraging their marketing teams to do it because it’s an easy way to dress up a half-baked product, hiding it behind a buzzword.

But I don’t think it’s a signal to consumers as much as a signal to investors and competitors. Since when does the consumer care about which technology was used to build a product? Has a consumer ever said “wow this product is so good it must have been built with Rust!” The bottom line is it shouldn’t matter and it doesn’t. People need features, not technology, even though many of them confuse the two.