Yunqi Li writing for Wired: The Tech Behind Taylor Swift Concert Wristbands

It’s funny because oftentimes people think there’s GPS in each of the devices, or there’s a lot of advanced AI technology,” says Vincent Leclerc, co-founder and CEO of PixMob in an interview with WSJ. “But we are really like, the old-school technology,” he chuckles.

How these wristbands work is interesting on their own, but this quote about people assuming there’s some sort of “AI technology” at play even when there’s nothing like that going on is super relevant today. One of the side effects of generative AI tools being widely used is that people in general are more suspicious of everything…we see “AI” everywhere, even when it’s not involved at all.

As a bonus, whenever a company says, “we’re using AI to enhance our product,” ask them for specifics…often it’s either complete bullshit or something so minor that it’s doing basically nothing. It’s not always the case, but I think you’d be surprised how much “AI” is mentioned in product marketing as nothing more than a marketing tool to look hip.