IT Essentials: AI, BS and WTF
The adults have left the room
We’ve reached a new high on the incompetence index in both politics and corporate comms.
Rather than focusing on a single story this week, I’m taking a mixed bag approach. Frankly, there’s just too much to talk about (can someone please turn off the news tap?).
By the way, I had a topic all lined up, a theme to go with and even supporting quotes – then Oracle suffered, denied and tried to hide a data breach, and President Trump decided to speed-run a global economic collapse. Flexibility is the soul of modern journalism.
Let’s start with Trump. The leader of an increasingly small slice of the free world decided to slap heavy tariffs on more than 100 countries for allegedly taking advantage of the USA. In most cases, that simply means they have historically exported more than they’ve imported. How dare Vietnam, a manufacturing hub for American goods, do such a thing?
Financial markets have plummeted on the news and tech stocks are taking an especial hammering. The tech-focused Nasdaq was down nearly 6% at close on Thursday.
What I’m especially proud of our team for spotting, though, is the apparent use of AI to decide on these tariff rates. It appears the Trump team has either fundamentally misunderstood how trade works or has taken ChatGPT’s word for how it does – because the “tariffs” Trump claims countries are charging are really just trade deficits.
They have also used an incorrect and lazy calculation, also suggested by all major AI chatbots, to set the reciprocal tariff rates.
Even if gen AI wasn’t involved in the decision – which might honestly be worse – there is simply no economic rationale behind it.
Oracle’s oopsy
Modern data privacy regulations make it pretty clear that companies need to be open and transparent when they suffer a data breach. Can someone tell Oracle?
First, the company denied a breach had happened. Then it turned out there had actually been two breaches. And finally, Big Red tried to hide the evidence.
While the outcome of other attacks, like those on the British Library and Reddit, set the gold standard in how to deal with the fallout, Oracle’s response is a case study in how not to handle a breach.
Transparency and honesty should be watchwords for any organisation in the aftermath of a cyberattack. Trying to cover it all up is far worse for your reputation than simply holding your hands up and saying, “We failed, but we’ll do better next time.”
What ties these stories together, beyond the chaos, is the complete absence of grown-ups in the room. The former president writing trade policy like it’s fanfiction, and the tech giant fumbling its way through a cover-up like no one’s watching, both remind us how dangerous power is when the people wielding it lack responsibility.
At least when ChatGPT gets something wrong, it doesn’t try to scrub the Wayback Machine.
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