Tech bro's "AI" was just Filipino workers

Village Street with Thatched-Roof Houses, Likely in the Philippines, by anonymous photographer, (c. 1870 - c. 1891) Public Domain

Albert Saniger is about to learn that AI stands for "Actually Incarcerated."

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Saniger, the 35-year-old CEO of nate (lowercase 'n' because disruption), has been charged with fraud for allegedly tricking investors into believing his company had created an AI that could handle online shopping checkouts with "a single tap."

Spoiler alert: The AI was actually hundreds of Filipino workers manually processing orders. Elizabeth Holmes would be so proud.

Saniger, who earned an MBA at London Business School and worked at Amazon, managed to squeeze $40 million from venture capitalists by selling them on his "proprietary AI technology," but the only thing proprietary about it was how creatively he hid the human workforce from his own employees.

Let's marvel at what venture capitalists thought was worth $40 million: an app that fills out web forms. Not cold fusion, not cancer cures — literally just software that types your credit card number so you don't have to move your precious fingers sixteen times. Any investor who heard "We're revolutionizing e-commerce by having AI fill out shipping addresses" and thought "Here's my money!" probably also believes Elon Musk is going to Mars.

Now facing up to 20 years in prison, Saniger might finally learn what real automation feels like — courtesy of the federal prison system.