Ai: Ai Washing (fail)
Ai Fail: $1.5B Microsoft-backed AI firm goes bankrupt after pioneering 'tech' found to be humans.
It turns out the artificial intelligence at Builder.ai wasn’t quite as artificial as advertised. The London-based startup, once hailed as a no-code software gamechanger and backed by giants like Microsoft, has filed for bankruptcy after revelations that its flagship AI assistant was powered largely by people, not code.
The company’s now-infamous ‘Natasha’ assistant was sold as a smart, no-code platform designed to help clients build apps efficiently using AI.
Recent investigation revealed that the tasks Natasha appeared to automate were actually being carried out by 700 human engineers—primarily in India—who were manually building and debugging the applications behind the scenes. This deception spanned years, misleading customers and investors about the actual role AI played in Builder.ai’s services.
Why it failed:
1. You can’t convince me that Ai is going to work long-term. Sure, the novelty of it is taking the world by storm, but just like anything else, humans will run it. Just like every other fad that technology has ever delivered to us, this will get sloppy and boring. Humans are the brilliance of this world, not a machine.
