Analogy of a intern and AI

This is going to be a weird one but stick with me. When people talk about AI and how its going change their world or their business i think there is a strange but powerful parallel between a new intern joining a company and a company trying its hand at AI.

Let me try and make this a little less strange and try and connect the two things

Inputs

AI or any learning model is pretty much useless without any data and inputs - its hard to argue that any intern would be able to do anything without the right inputs and data - even to get a coffee they need to be told what kind and which cafe to get it from (or not get it from if you are next to a McDonalds). If you don't have the time or the data and inputs then dont bother hiring a intern and definitely don't bother trying to get an AI solution/model

Training

As with any AI model, interns will need lots and lots of training and mentoring and guidance before they can do anything meaningful - they will also come back and ask you stupid questions but you expect that of an intern - when you pay a lot of money for a clever AI solution you dont really expect it but you still get questions on what you want the damn model to do

Potential

No one really knows what the true potential of an intern or a AI model is until they are tested - sure we label some interns as bright and others as no good on the first day itself but time and testing them might prove a different story - don't judge it too harshly too soon.

Accuracy & expectations

You know that the intern is going to get it wrong - in fact smart managers factor the interns failure into the task they give them for the first few months. Don't expect anything different from AI either and if you want it to perform from day 1 then best buy a generic off the shelf AI model (yeah right - like those work perfectly)

Envy

WTF I hear you say but bear with me - not all departments get interns and not all departments get interns of the same calibre (university, degree, social skills) - just like not all departments get the AI or deep learning model they want. You need to be able to deal with inter departmental envy or make sure there is a clear plan for rotating the intern (easier done than with rotating a AI) so the entire organisation gets behind supporting the intern.

As bizarre as this is there surely are some pearls of wisdom hidden in this post - if you can actually find some please feel free to comment or reach out so I can try and take credit for it.