:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63712064/CHORUS-recode-teta-James-Cham-02.0.jpg)
Artificial intelligence is hot again, with everyone from Facebook to Amazon to Bill Gates talking about it at the 2016 Code Conference.
But Bloomberg Beta partner James Cham, who has invested in several AI companies, says there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the field.
"From our perspective, the dirty secret around machine learning right now is that nobody knows what they’re doing," Cham said on the latest episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask, in conversation with host Kara Swisher and special guest host Mark Bergen. "Software is hard to write and machine learning is even harder to figure out. For a software developer to project-plan and figure out whether they’re going to get results, no one has any idea."
For both entrepreneurs and investors, the fear is that artificial intelligence and machine learning might hit a wall and we’ll see another "AI winter" as in the 1980s. However, Kara, Mark and James talked about what’s working now that couldn’t have happened before and why interest in artificial intelligence seems to be accelerating.
Down the road, one potential setback for AI companies might be consumers demanding tighter control of their own data.
"I think we’ve consistently chosen comfort and better decisions, better and more valuable products, over our sense of privacy," Cham said. "I think that we, as a community, will realize at some point the value of our data and probably figure out ways to make that cost something for companies. Right now, a lot of companies are getting a free ride."
Listen to Too Embarrassed to Ask in the audio player above, or subscribe on iTunes, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Stitcher.
Thank you to everyone who sent in their questions about artificial intelligence. You can tweet your questions, comments and complaints about any tech topic to @Recode with the hashtag #TooEmbarrassed. And be sure to follow @LaurenGoode, @KaraSwisher and @Recode to get alerted when we're looking for questions about a specific topic.
If you like this show, you should also check out our other podcasts:
- Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher is a weekly show featuring in-depth interviews with the movers and shakers in tech and media every Monday. You can subscribe on iTunes, Google Play Music, TuneIn and Stitcher.
- Recode Media with Peter Kafka features no-nonsense conversations with the smartest and most interesting people in the media world, with new episodes every Thursday. Use these links to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play Music, TuneIn and Stitcher.
- And finally, Recode Replay has all the audio from our live events such as the Code Conference, Code Media and the Code Commerce Series. Subscribe today on iTunes, Google Play Music, TuneIn and Stitcher.
If you like what we’re doing, please write a review on iTunes — and if you don’t, just tweet-strafe Kara and Lauren. Tune in next Friday for another episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask!
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
