We’re witnessing industry-wide AI-FOMO colliding with genuine technological capability. Nobody wants to be the one pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. In boardrooms and product development meetings, the pressure to “do something with AI” has become overwhelming.

The result? AI features that nobody asked for, bundled into software packages at premium prices, driving up operational costs by as much as 44% according to a broadcast CTO at the DPP Leaders Briefing. When AI features become mandatory add-ons that teams neither requested nor deployed, something fundamental has broken in the vendor-customer relationship.

But dismissing AI entirely would be a mistake. While some applications are pure marketing theater, others are quietly delivering real value: predicting equipment failures before they disrupt broadcasts, automatically verifying thousands of displays in stadium installations, and reserving network bandwidth before critical events.

The question is how to distinguish genuine augmentation from automation dressed up in friendly language. In this article on AV Magazine, NETGEAR's Richard Jonker cuts through the hype to explore where AI actually delivers for AV professionals, and where it's just expensive window dressing.

Read the full article: "AI in AV: 'The emperor isn't naked but needs better clothes"