I don’t know the exact tipping point from realistic excitement about new technology to hype to “oh come on.” But when a sandwich shop with Danny DeVito as its face talks about AI in its IPO documents, I’m pretty sure we’re nearing that tipping point.
The same goes for Jersey Mike’s.
Investors are excited about AI in general these days, so it’s understandable why tech companies feel the need to sprinkle AI dust all over their pitches. This is just as true for non-AI startups raising venture capital as it is for the public debut of Bending Spoons, which is in the business of acquiring and turning around aging “non-AI” technology companies.
Just for fun, I took a look at Jersey Mike’s IPO documents to see how far this enforcement extends. Sure, you don’t need to mention AI in your sandwich shop’s S-1. But lo!
The term artificial intelligence and its acronym “AI” were mentioned 22 times. In this case, the company cannot claim to be selling AI software. We sell submarine sandwiches. AI products are what investors really crave (bad joke).
Still, the company found a way to mention AI in its risk alert to investors. It could be even more interesting. It doesn’t explain what the AI will be used for, which could be dangerous for investors, only waving the phrase, “We are beginning to use AI technology in our business.”
To be fair, as a company that operates franchisees, like any other company, it relies on software (mentioned 52 times) and data (mentioned 112 times). Its AI risk warnings are boilerplate copy, and perhaps even necessary, since such disasters have already happened in other food industries, such as the half-baked AI inventory tool rolled out by Starbucks that failed to count and was recently retired.
Still, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that the risk of an AI disaster to a company that makes real sandwiches, rather than an AI failure, is about the same as, say, a franchise store being struck by lightning. By the way, this actually happened in a Texas store in 2021, but weather was only mentioned five times in S-1. And what about lightning? Never.
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