Does it always have to be AI?

AI is a real game changer - no question about it. We use it every day: for development, code review, to optimise our communication or the header image for this post :-) . It often saves time, sometimes even nerves. But let's be honest: AI also costs money. Not just money, but sometimes also complexity and resources.

Want a customer example?

A customer wanted to transfer content from a legacy system to a Staffbase app. The app is multilingual - great! The idea: import articles directly in the respective language. The problem: the old system didn't even know which language the articles were written in. So: recognise the language!

AI solution

Azure AI Translation Service provides an endpoint for speech recognition - works, but is not free and comes with dependencies.

The alternative?

The problem can also be solved with a bit of common sense and a few lines of code: Count the frequency of certain words in the languages in question (maths sends its regards!) - and the language is recognised. Quick, inexpensive and completely sufficient in 99% of cases.

My conclusion

AI is powerful, but not always necessary. Sometimes common sense is enough - and there's no substitute for it.