AI Influencers From the Post-ChatGPT Era
A new stage in the history of AI marked by the emergence of a new type of hype
An unsurprising side-effect of ChatGPT going viral is that generative AI has become an attractor for people who care about it exclusively as a means to gain money, social media presence, or business opportunities: The new class of AI influencers.
Let me start by making it clear that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using what’s hot to grow a business. As the space of AI influencers grows, they give the field more visibility to people who would’ve never heard of it otherwise (as incredible as it sounds, most people are unaware of how AI is changing the world). That’s great — more people knowing about AI means fewer consequences due to ignorance.
But there’s a second-order effect of this phenomenon. AI influencers’ incentives to talk, write, and inform about AI are not always aligned with people’s desire to know what AI is, how it works, or what makes sense to use it for. Often they just want to take advantage of the new trend, which translates into lower-quality knowledge sources.
And, to the frustration of people who try to educate others about AI in a balanced way, they will, with time, become the most common — and most followed — resources on AI. That’s what…
