A vendor pitch for ai-powered RFM analysis prompted a deeper look at what labels like ai-powered and AI-driven actually mean, after the author found the RFM portion followed the traditional method of five splits across three dimensions, and the so called ai-powered element was a recommendation engine added after customers were bucketed.
The research turned to existing commentary and articles for clarity, starting with a Harvard Business Review piece that warned leaders not to treat AI as a plug and play technology and that most AI transformations take 18 to 36 months, with some lasting as long as five years, while noting the article did not define the term AI-powered, as reported by HBR.
Definitions And Debate In Recent Commentary
An earlier essay by Erik Trautman outlined three adoption levels, calling the first AI-Assisted and describing it as a technical bolt on to existing processes, such as AI assisted sales or team management tools, the second AI-Enabled or AI-Augmented where AI improves existing processes or products like recommendation engines behind familiar services, and the third AI-Driven where AI is the lifeblood of the company or initiative, with self-driving technologies given as an example.
Commentary from 2021 took a blunt tone, saying What is AI Powered Answer Malarkey and arguing that the label can mean anything, because something labeled AI-powered simply contains some AI technologies but the degree and value remain unspecified, while a subsequent blog post presented a technology-focused definition that said AI-powered implies integration of advanced algorithms and machine learning to improve software performance over time.
After weighing sources, the author offered a working taxonomy. AI-enabled describes tools where AI serves as a minor input, such as a regression script that calls an AI library. AI-powered denotes tools where AI drives primary functionality, with a self-driving car offered as an example. AI-driven refers to organizations or processes centered on AI, and the author cited a company refocusing its efforts around AI as an illustration. Applying this framework to the initial example, the author judged the vendor was offering traditional RFM analysis with an AI-enabled recommendation engine bolted on, not true ai-powered RFM, and said clearer product descriptions will be required going forward.
