New piece from Brian Merchant: 'AI is in its empire era'
Recently finished it, here's a personal sidenote:
This AI bubble's done a pretty good job of destroying the "apolitical" image that tech's done so much to build up (Silicon Valley jumping into bed with Trump definitely helped, too) - as a matter of fact, it's provided plenty of material to build an image of tech as a Nazi bar writ large (once again, SV's relationship with Trump did wonders here).
By the time this decade ends, I anticipate tech's public image will be firmly in the toilet, viewed as an unmitigated blight on all our daily lives at best and as an unofficial arm of the Fourth Reich at worst.
As for AI itself, I expect it's image will go into the shitter as well - assuming the bubble burst doesn't destroy AI as a concept like I anticipate, it'll probably be viewed as a tech with no ethical use, as a tech built first and foremost to enable/perpetrate atrocities to its wielder's content.
Ran across a piece of AI hype titled "Is AI really thinking and reasoning — or just pretending to?".
In lieu of sneering the thing, here's some unrelated thoughts:
The AI bubble has done plenty to broach the question of "Can machines think?" that Alan Turing first asked in 1950. From the myriad failures and embarrassments its given us, its given plenty of evidence to suggest they can't - to repeat an old prediction of mine, I expect this bubble is going to kill AI as a concept, utterly discrediting it in the public eye.
On another unrelated note, I expect we're gonna see a sharp change in how AI gets depicted in fiction.
With AI's public image being redefined by glue pizzas and gen-AI slop on one end, and by ethical contraventions and Geneva Recommendations on another end, the bubble's already done plenty to turn AI into a pop-culture punchline, and support of AI into a digital "Kick Me" sign - a trend I expect to continue for a while after the bubble bursts.
For an actual prediction, I predict AI is gonna pop up a lot less in science fiction going forward. Even assuming this bubble hasn't turned audiences and writers alike off of AI as a concept, the bubble's likely gonna make it a lot harder to use AI as a plot device or somesuch without shattering willing suspension of disbelief.