Calling 'Bullshit' on the 'Hey Hi' (AI) Marketing Hype

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2020-07-27 05:33:28 UTC
Modified: 2020-07-27 05:33:28 UTC

Summary: IBM and Microsoft both rely on mindless hype to market poorly-performing products and services; when will they set aside buzzwords and focus on substance instead?

I have worked on so-called 'Hey Hi' (AI) code since I was a teenager. At first I developed a game engine. Later I develop computer vision classifiers, mostly for medical applications. We called it "machine vision" or "machine learning" at the time, not "Hey Hi" (AI being a much older term with very broad scope). I understand the technical limitations and all the superficial/artificial hype. I peer-reviewed academic papers at the highest level, assessing the application of the methods in a practical context. I'm not clueless about this. EPO President António Campinos loves talking about "AI", but what does he know about it anyway? Nothing. The term "AI" is so vague and broad that nontechnical managers name-drop it all the time.

"The term "AI" is so vague and broad that nontechnical managers name-drop it all the time."The new CEO of IBM (Arvind Krishna), in recent interviews that I saw of him, props up "clown computing" (servers/clusters) and "Hey Hi" (AI) quite a lot; there's not sufficient substance. Remember which part of IBM he came from. Here's one video where they speak to Mr. "cloud and cognitive software" ("cloud everywhere, AI anywhere"). Have a look, as it predates by months the appointment/promotion of Krishna to CEO role:

He mentions "Watson" in the context of "Cloud Private" and containers. "Watson everywhere" is their motto. Watson to "sell cloud"...

"IBM will need to do more than rebrand systems administration "DevOps" and various algorithms "AI"; the CEO is probably a lot more technical than the new President (Whitehurst), which is better known for institutional openwashing ("open org")."Red Hat is mentioned a lot (this was after they announced they'd buy Red Hat, reportedly because Krishna had pushed in that direction).

They mention Microsoft and Azure a lot (even if Azure is an overhyped failure with ongoing layoffs). Seeing all this "cloud everywhere" and "Watson everywhere" buzzwords salad, I'm not particularly encouraged about the future direction, which may lack technical substance and put emphasis on soundbites, instead. At around 7:20 he mentions doctors and access to knowledge; well, perhaps he hasn't caught up with reports such as these:

IBM will need a lot more than brands like "Watson" to succeed. "You gotta bring cloud technologies, you gotta bring AI technologies" (Krishna's words at 10:40) isn't enough. IBM will need to do more than rebrand systems administration "DevOps" and various algorithms "AI"; the CEO is probably a lot more technical than the new President (Whitehurst), which is better known for institutional openwashing ("open org").

I generally hope that IBM will bring GNU/Linux to the mainstream not only at the back end but also the client side. IBM, irrespective of our views about it, is by far the biggest influencer in this space. It'll have a lot to do with the future direction of both Linux and GNU, not to mention a bunch of other stuff that goes on top (e.g. containers, databases, and Web frameworks). ⬆

With an IBM Company Down Over 75% After Apparent Accounting Fraud the IBM Insiders Want Answers From James Krabanaugh: He has no technical qualifications
A "horrible week (hebdomada horribilis?) for the Solicitors Regulation Authority" (SRA): The SRA is part of the SLAPP problem
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) on EPO Social Dialogue: They've refrained from mentioning the industrial actions
The Register MS is Promoting Ponzi Scheme for Financial Fraud/Accounting Fraud Company, The Register MS Gets Paid to Do This: Published 6 hours ago
IBM's Kyndryl Managed to Fall to Less Than a Quarter of Its Past Year's High: Imagine IBM falling to $75
Links 10/02/2026: Media Freedom Feels Dead in Hong Kong and Grammys, Superbowl Becoming Politics: Links for the day
IBM RAs (or PIPs) in London, England?: They try to keep the lid on it
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Delusion - Part IV - Machos in Charge of the House (and System), Even If the Faces Are Female (Optics): basically a Windows/Microsoft (US) shop
Brett Wilson LLP Seems to Have Done for Roberto Foa What It Did a Year Earlier for the Serial Strangler from Microsoft: Repeat abusers (of the legal system) will misuse it as long as regulators do nothing
IBM's Financial Engineering (Accounting Fraud) Shell, Kyndryl Holdings Inc, is Insolvent: If this was done by the very same people who still run IBM, can we expect any better from "Sugar Daddy" IBM?
2026 a Very Productive Year and We Have Many Big Stories to Tell: maybe we'll produce 8,000 new articles/pages by year's end
Clownflare is in Trouble as Its Debt More Than Doubled in Less Than a Year, Expect Further Enshittification: Clownflare isn't free
After the Next Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Washington State Could be #1 for US Layoffs: Microsoft Corp shares were down yesterday
EPO's Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH): The EPO is Generally “Managed by Excel” (Microsoft): The current management has basically defined corruption to be "success"
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 10, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Google Still Helping the Slop Pyramid Scheme, Encouraging Plagiarism Too: Google is a plagiarism company and it wants public solidarity for plagiarism by LLMs
Gemini Links 10/02/2026: "The Luminous Dead", Matrix, and Containers: Links for the day
Kyndryl CFO Harsh Chugh Comes From IBM (17+ Years): Who would want such a position?
International Buybacks Machines: Will the current US administration/regime look into IBM's accounting or only its mini me's?
IBM Could be the Next Kyndryl, a Dinosaur With Accounting Fraud: Many shareholders (or even pension funds) are taking a big hit today
Ian Murdock Died in San Francisco 10 Years Ago. Cops Led to His Death.: 10 years ago Ian Murdock died after cops had messed him up
US/Europe divergence: health & safety, criminality & Debian harassment culture: Open Digital Ecosystems submission F33370170: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 10/02/2026: Splinternets and "Meta Goes to Trial in a New Mexico Child Safety Case": Links for the day
Russia and China Best Off Without GAFAM: What if they abandoned GAFAM?
Will Finns Put Out the Online Cigarettes?: More people recognise that the child porn site formerly known as "Twitter" and Cheeto/Pooh-tin controlled TikTok are no longer trustworthy
As the US Economy Sags Microsoft Layoffs Carry on (Now in Larger Waves Like 15,000 Per Season or 30,000+ Per Year): They try to avoid "negative" topics
GNU/Linux at 3.99% in Australia: now that Australians can no longer keep Vista 10
Microsoft Windows Falling: analytics.usa.gov Shows Rapid Erosion of Windows Market Share Since 'End of 10' (Vista 10)
Microsoft Windows Hits All-Time Low in The Netherlands in 2026: Europe needs to rid itself or wean itself off GAFAM
SRA: SLAPPs From Russian War Criminals and American Men Who Strangle Women Are Acceptable: The SRA, by inaction, is complicit in this
From Weber Shandwick (Microsoft PR) to Brett Wilson LLP (Hired Gun of the Serial Strangler of Microsoft): they basically tried to charge me a lot of money for a PR project of someone who strangled women
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is Not a Regulator, It's Part of the Litigation "Industry" in the UK (They Overlap Each Other): Does nothing except talk about SLAPPs
In Finland, Microsoft Falls Behind Yandex (Russia): Bing has had many layoffs in recent years
Security More Advanced in Geminispace Than on the Web (Bloat): For real security, use Geminispace capsules, not Web sites
Slop at Microsoft is a Miserable Failure, Now Microsoft Takes the "Vista Route" (Paying People to Say Good Things About It): This is brainwash, it's meant to delay the implosion of the bubble
Rumours About February 2026 Microsoft Layoffs: Silent Layoffs or 30,000 Culled Tomorrow: Sooner or later (and soon) Microsoft will need to say something and file some WARN notifications
GNU/Linux at 12% in Guam, Based on statCounter (Compared to 2-3% a Year Ago): Guam's "uptick" in GNU/Linux usage started weeks after "end of 10"
Where We Stand With the Winter Series: We'll need to protect names and sources
Fighting Slop With the Public Domain (and Why Slopfarms Perish Faster Than New Ones Appear): We can combat the nonsense by producing more human-made works until the slop bubble implodes
After Employee Reviews at IBM Staff Expects Another Large Wave of PIPs and "RAs" (Layoffs): From what we can see in the "public Web"
Gemini Links 10/02/2026: "The Last Messiah", Discord for Adults: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 09, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, February 09, 2026
Is Europe Abandoning Digital Opium?: GAFAM-controlled social control media
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part V - Strongest Strike Under António Campinos: SUEPO Munich is also reminding people of the threat of PIPs
Microslop is Slop, Slop is Considered "Quality": no wonder Microsoft's stuff breaks down so often
thelayoff.com Deletes On-Topic Discussions (Layoffs) While Leaving in Tact Pro-Corporate Trolling Made by LLMs (Slop): Who at thelayoff.com deems spam made by LLMs (slop) to be on-topic and unworthy of zapping, whereas actually on-topic and authentic threads get routinely deleted?
Gemini Links 09/02/2026: Great Salt Lake Ecological Observatory and Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release: Links for the day
Links 09/02/2026: Mass Plagiarism and Pollution/FakeCoin Company Nvidia Contacted Anna’s Archives, Narges Mohammadi Gets Second Prison Sentence: Links for the day
GNU/Linux May Have Grown to 7% in Equatorial Guinea: Has there been some kind of mass migration there or is this just noise in the data?
Links 09/02/2026: Russia Intentionally Killing Civilians, Jimmy Lai Effectively Sentenced for Life for Publishing News: Links for the day
Microsoft Competitions, Addictions, and Popularity Contests Are Not Going to Help Perl, They'll Waste Everybody's Time and Give Microsoft More Control Over Its Competition: Microsoft does not like Perl
A Can of WORMS - Part IV - They Would Even Attack RMS for Criticising Autocrats (Saying This is "Politics"): Conforming to society's perceived expectations isn't how effective activism can ever be done or was ever done in the recent past
Gemini Links 09/02/2026: The Exploration Myth and Making JavaScript Fun: Links for the day
EPO Outrage and Maintaining the Pressure: A vending machine does not fall over after a first push
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 08, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, February 08, 2026
"Low Performer" and "Underperformer" as Harmful Misnomers That Damage a Company's Reputation: Misnomers need to be avoided or called out

Calling 'Bullshit' on the 'Hey Hi' (AI) Marketing Hype

Recent Techrights' Posts