I’m Happy That the AI Industry Is Being Constantly Mischaracterized

You reap what you sow, or something to that effect

Narcissus by Caravaggio, ca. 1600

I love Futurism. It’s a great outlet because the stories it features are low-quality in a way that’s easily detectable (unlike AI-written prose, which is often bad but you can’t always put your finger on why). It’s also great because all the people who care little about AI as a potentially beneficial technology — yet care a lot about getting anti-hype clout from it — will quote it endlessly. But the main reason I love this magazine is that it’s contributed to the emergence of a new kind of AI influencer; the type that constantly misrepresents the industry’s advances (sometimes unintentionally).

As the author of articles like “I’m Losing All Trust in the AI Industry,” I can hardly be accused of complicity, but above all, I owe myself to the truth, so here it is: The industry will do everything it can to sell you whatever it makes, but a considerable portion of it is legit anyway. I mean, you can log into ChatGPT and decide to focus on the edge cases it fails to solve or on the many things it can do that no other technology could do before 2022. It’s your choice; mine is to see both sides.

Nevertheless, I’m happy that the AI industry is being undercut by mischaracterization for two reasons: 1) it…