Alphabet

Last weekend, Google’s Eric Schmidt wrote an op-ed piece for the BBC. The article focuses on his feeling that we are right at the beginning of an amazing future that is only possible through AI (artificial intelligence). One of the most widely reported parts of the op-ed is him slamming Apple Music as being elitist because the music is human curated. Schmidt prefers a “smart system” learning from the community as a whole (read: AI) because it allows “everyone to discover the next big star through our own collective tastes and not through the individual preferences of a select few.” While on paper it makes some sense, music doesn’t work like that. Pandora is perfectly pleasant, but wouldn’t you rather be listening to a mix tape tape created just for you? That’s because a human touch is needed to play just the right songs at just the right time. Musicians have long criticized A&R guys for being are gatekeepers, but the truth is there is an art and a feel to artist development that cannot be replaced with science, numbers, and computers. Using computers to shape tastes and trends does not allow for abnormalities (something radically different) and emphasizes a culture of unified tastes.

A few days ago Schmidt sat down with WWD and extended his thoughts on AI to also cover fashion. It is his belief that computers will be used to allow designers to decide what is “cool” and what is not. According to Schmidt, “There’s a science around cool.” Modeling how people migrate towards “cool,” he asserts that AI will be able “to take a picture of a dress and tell a brand whether it was going to be cool or not.” Even more so than his statements on music, it is tough to agree with Schmidt.