I love my Nike Fuel Band. It keeps me motivated to get moving, specially on days that I just don't feel like working out. The idea behind this amazing piece of equipment is easy: you wear it everyday and it tracks your movement to produce statistics of your overall health and goals. Little did I know that this little piece of rubber I wear everyday is somewhat embedded on me. It's a little piece of artificial intelligence. What I head Professor Fry explain the reason behind this (I believe he used Fitbit as an example), it freaked me out a little. I am one of those who believe that eventually technology will outsmart humans. I grew up watching movies such as A.I., The Terminator and I, Robot. After watching those movies, it creeps me out to think that Cyborgs will soon take over the world. Hopefully I will not be living by then. Anyway, back to my Nike Fuel. I find it fascinating that it truly is a little piece of A.I. embedded on me.
Now, on a more business perspective, I've learned that my Nike Fuel band is used as a form of Gamification. What is gamification you ask? It's the application of typical elements of game playing to other areas of activities, and are used as online marketing technique that encourages engagement with a product or service. Most people do not know but we are using products and services solely to generate more profit for organizations! Is that just not ethical? Watch the video below to get an idea of what I mean:
What's interesting is that about half a billion people do not even know they're using it! Calling all Candy Crush addicts - you're one of the top groups that fall victim into this marketing technique. But no matter how much of this gamification is made known to society, people still use it. Like how I still use my Nike Fuel Band. It's my little piece of A.I. that is providing Nike my statistics for data they can use to generate new innovating ideas and so forth.
No comments:
Post a Comment