Arthur C. Clarke famously said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Right now, that "magic" technology has come to be known as AI.
Artificial Intelligence is a great umbrella term and is fantastic for marketing, but it doesn't mean one specific thing we can simply add to our software. And yet, product owners, CEOs, and marketing teams want us to add it to everything. Customers aren't asking for AI, but they will start to expect it as table stakes for every application.
We must get past vague, hand-wavy guidance about how and why we should use AI. It's like being asked to get out the spray can and apply a nice coat of AI to everything. Such a haphazard approach will not create the outcomes people are hoping for. We need a thoughtful approach that understands what AI is and where and when we should use it. That's what we're calling Architectural Intelligence.
Software architects now need to understand what AI is and what it isn't. This requires separating the AI hype from real software that we can actually implement.
There is nothing magical about GenAI and LLMs. Determining how, where, and when to use AI elements comes down to traditional trade-off analysis. One way to get more familiar with the capabilities of any new software is to use it on a regular basis. Architects can augment their decision-making and communication skills with AI tools, leading to better designs and greater understanding among team members.
This content is an excerpt from a recent InfoQ article by Thomas Betts, "Architectural Intelligence - The Next AI".
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