The devil is in the definition
This op-ed is the first of two pieces written by Patrick Norén, editor of Marina World at SuperYacht Times. The second article can be read here.
A couple of years ago I smuggled myself into one of my partner’s lectures at a university in Seoul, Korea. “What is an algorithm?” the lecturer asked the room of some four dozen students.
“It tracks your internet history to give you targeted adverts,” replied one student. “It can work out your likes and dislikes on apps like Instagram and gives you more of what you like to keep you engaged,” said another.
I continued listening and grew increasingly frustrated at the answers I was hearing to what was otherwise a fairly simple question. This was a group of students that one could somewhat pejoratively label as the “Instagram” or “TikTok” generation, whose lives online have been shaped by the would-be Big Brother of big tech, and yet no one could really understand - let alone articulate - what an algorithm actually is. They could only give examples of what an algorithm does or what it looks like.
A couple of years ago I smuggled myself into one of my partner’s lectures at a university in Seoul, Korea. “What is an algorithm?” the lecturer asked the room of some four dozen students.
“It tracks your internet history to give you targeted adverts,” replied one student. “It can work out your likes and dislikes on apps like Instagram and gives you more of what you like to keep you engaged,” said another.
I continued listening and grew increasingly frustrated at the answers I was hearing to what was otherwise a fairly simple question. This was a group of students that one could somewhat pejoratively label as the “Instagram” or “TikTok” generation, whose lives online have been shaped by the would-be Big Brother of big tech, and yet no one could really understand - let alone articulate - what an algorithm actually is. They could only give examples of what an algorithm does or what it looks like.
Author 
Patrick Norén - Marina World
Patrick Norén - Marina WorldWednesday, 8 April 2026
The reality is a lot less romantic. An algorithm is little more than a set of mathematical instructions or rules that a computer will use to help calculate an answer to a problem. In the case of social media, it is these mathematical instructions that help “decide” what content should be shown to which user. Only, this “decision” is more or less predetermined by exactly what data the user themselves inputs into the algorithm, and how the algorithm has been coded by its very much human masters.
But what exactly is artificial intelligence? Not what it does, not what it looks like, not what its seemingly infinite potential applications across the whole spectrum of human activity are. What is it, in simple terms? Could you define artificial intelligence?
I certainly couldn’t. Even IBM’s basic definition of artificial intelligence defines it only as “technology” before jumping straight into examples of what it does. Yes, definitions of artificial intelligence do exist, but many are incomplete or contested.
The fever surrounding artificial intelligence and its resistance to definition makes it a term that is ripe for misunderstanding at best, or abuse at worst. Much like an algorithm, a lack of understanding about what constitutes artificial intelligence could mean that those who claim to use artificial intelligence - when in actual fact they don’t - might get away with it. You can only solve a problem if you are able to first identify the problem.
Many emerging marina management software companies claim to have started embedding artificial intelligence tools to help optimise decision making. I cannot speak to the validity of any of these claims and will not attempt to here. However, I must ask whether these tools genuinely do constitute “artificial intelligence” or if they are just automation, because they are not by any means the same thing.
Automation executes narrow, repetitive and predefined tasks without human interference, without the capacity to learn, adapt or improve. On the other hand, some forms of artificial intelligence (but not all) can make dynamic decisions based on any given number of prompts or inputs, and can learn, adapt and improve over time.
For example, using a bot to issue invoices to clients is not artificial intelligence. That is automation. However, using a chatbot to interpret and subsequently act on a marina user’s query might represent a basic AI function, but it likely would not possess the ability to adapt or improve over time without ongoing training or development by humans.
Indeed, much artificial intelligence is automated, but not all automation is artificial intelligence. Just because the line can be easily blurred does not mean that we should be comfortable in ambiguity. As the marina industry continues to discuss and at times embrace artificial intelligence, one must always try to remember what it is and what it isn’t, and ask for clarification when the line is blurred.
That consequence is ambiguity. Failing to truly understand the essence of sustainability can result in one getting comfortable with ambiguity, missing the point of what really matters and not seriously addressing the issues at hand.
The United Nations’ Brundtland Commission defined sustainability in 1987 as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. While being the most widely accepted definition, it has still been criticised for being vague. Extrapolated onto the longest possible time horizon, some would argue that the idea of “sustainable development” is oxymoronic and impossible.
That said, when the future of the planet and the species that call it home are at stake, one should not get too bogged down in academia. Instead, one should take sustainability very seriously and act as a matter of urgency.
There is no shortage of greenwashing across all industries, and the marina industry is unfortunately no exception. This ambiguity around sustainability means that the term can be distorted to suit ulterior motives without actually doing much to “safeguard the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
While this does persist, I have been encouraged by the number of startups and scaleups that have both understood the essence and urgency of sustainability in the marina industry, and are doing something about it. I highlight a number of these companies in my second article for Metstrade, available to read here.
Artificial intelligence
How does this anecdote relate to the marina industry? Since starting as editor of Marina World in the summer of 2025, I have understood that the two parts of the industry which are seeing the greatest amount of innovation are marina management software and “environmentally friendly” marina infrastructure. The two buzzwords that abound in discussions of both areas are “artificial intelligence” and “sustainability”.But what exactly is artificial intelligence? Not what it does, not what it looks like, not what its seemingly infinite potential applications across the whole spectrum of human activity are. What is it, in simple terms? Could you define artificial intelligence?
I certainly couldn’t. Even IBM’s basic definition of artificial intelligence defines it only as “technology” before jumping straight into examples of what it does. Yes, definitions of artificial intelligence do exist, but many are incomplete or contested.
The fever surrounding artificial intelligence and its resistance to definition makes it a term that is ripe for misunderstanding at best, or abuse at worst. Much like an algorithm, a lack of understanding about what constitutes artificial intelligence could mean that those who claim to use artificial intelligence - when in actual fact they don’t - might get away with it. You can only solve a problem if you are able to first identify the problem.
Many emerging marina management software companies claim to have started embedding artificial intelligence tools to help optimise decision making. I cannot speak to the validity of any of these claims and will not attempt to here. However, I must ask whether these tools genuinely do constitute “artificial intelligence” or if they are just automation, because they are not by any means the same thing.
Automation executes narrow, repetitive and predefined tasks without human interference, without the capacity to learn, adapt or improve. On the other hand, some forms of artificial intelligence (but not all) can make dynamic decisions based on any given number of prompts or inputs, and can learn, adapt and improve over time.
For example, using a bot to issue invoices to clients is not artificial intelligence. That is automation. However, using a chatbot to interpret and subsequently act on a marina user’s query might represent a basic AI function, but it likely would not possess the ability to adapt or improve over time without ongoing training or development by humans.
Indeed, much artificial intelligence is automated, but not all automation is artificial intelligence. Just because the line can be easily blurred does not mean that we should be comfortable in ambiguity. As the marina industry continues to discuss and at times embrace artificial intelligence, one must always try to remember what it is and what it isn’t, and ask for clarification when the line is blurred.
Sustainability
The issue of sustainability in the marina sector is one that I fear suffers from the same problem. Many can give examples of what it looks like but they cannot concretely define what it actually is. This inability to precisely define sustainability also has the same especially damaging consequence as algorithms or artificial intelligence.That consequence is ambiguity. Failing to truly understand the essence of sustainability can result in one getting comfortable with ambiguity, missing the point of what really matters and not seriously addressing the issues at hand.
The United Nations’ Brundtland Commission defined sustainability in 1987 as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. While being the most widely accepted definition, it has still been criticised for being vague. Extrapolated onto the longest possible time horizon, some would argue that the idea of “sustainable development” is oxymoronic and impossible.
That said, when the future of the planet and the species that call it home are at stake, one should not get too bogged down in academia. Instead, one should take sustainability very seriously and act as a matter of urgency.
There is no shortage of greenwashing across all industries, and the marina industry is unfortunately no exception. This ambiguity around sustainability means that the term can be distorted to suit ulterior motives without actually doing much to “safeguard the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
While this does persist, I have been encouraged by the number of startups and scaleups that have both understood the essence and urgency of sustainability in the marina industry, and are doing something about it. I highlight a number of these companies in my second article for Metstrade, available to read here.
