The dangers of fashion-driven tech decisions [Video]

Following the crowd can be an expensive mistake—just ask the developers trying to make Kubernetes or AI fit.

Credit: New Africa / Shutterstock

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that so many technology trends mimic fashion trends. No, I don’t mean our clothing choices—we technology folks are persistently poor dressers. Rather, I’m talking about how decisions are made. Even as I type this, your company is throwing as much ChatGPT against the wall as possible, desperately hoping some of it will stick. Rest assured, some of it will: Commonwealth Bank of Australia says it has cut scam losses by 50% and customer-reported frauds by 30% using AI.

Hurray! But the fact that some companies are having success with generative AI, or Kubernetes, or whatever, doesn’t mean that you will. Our technology decisions should be driven by what we need, not necessarily by what we read.