This article is part of an occasional series from leading voices about key issues facing marketing today. Here's a quick reality-check for the next artificial intelligence (AI) pitch you hear: Ask what the company's solution optimizes for. If the answer is along the lines of "anything you need," that should raise a red flag. AI doesn't work that way, but it's ad tech's favorite new buzzword, so you can understand why marketers say they're prioritizing a technology that few understand. I began working with AI as a teenager, taught in the field at Harvard and MIT, and wrote books on the subject.