What's wrong with current AI media coverage? These 7 flaws: https://niritweissblatt.medium... 🧵
AI Hype: Overconfident techies bragging about their AI systems (AI Boosterism). AI Criti-Hype: Overconfident doomsayers accusing those AI systems of atrocities (AI Doomerism). Both overpromise the technology's capabilities and spread unrealistic expectations.
It's either simplistically optimistic or simplistically pessimistic When founders are referred to as "charismatic leaders," AI ethics experts as "critics," doomsayers (without AI expertise) as "AI experts" it distorts how the public perceives & participates in these discussions.
Copycat behavior: News outlets report the same story from the same perspective. It leads to media storms. When AI Doomers become 'media heroes,' their fearmongering overshadows the real consequences of AI. It's not a productive conversation to have, yet, the press runs with it.
Attributing human characteristics to AI - misleads people. It begins with words like "intelligence" and "learning" and moves to "consciousness" and "sentience," as if the machine has experiences, emotions, opinions, or motivations. This isn't a human being.
The selection of topics for attention and the framing of these topics are powerful Agenda-Setting roles. This is why it's unfortunate most attention is paid to the fringes of the debate, not the majority in the middle. The loudest shouters provoke misguided outrage.
Sensational, deterministic headlines prevail over nuanced discussions. "AGI will destroy us"/"save us" make for good headlines, not good journalism. Whenever people make predictions with absolute certainty in a state of uncertainty, follow the money & see why that's the case.
"AI will get out of control and kill everyone." This scenario doesn't need any proof or factual explanation. We saw it in Hollywood movies! So, that must be true (right?) The focus should NOT be on imaginary threats, but on the actual challenges and the guardrails they require.
@DrTechlash Thanks for this helpful perspective... aligns with Guidelines for journalists @ben.shneiderman/guidelines-for-journalists-and-editors-about-reporting-on-robots-ai-and-computers-6a69c3b813cd class="text-blue-500 hover:underline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://medium.com/@ben.shneid...
@benbendc Great guidelines! "Clarify human initiative & control" - 🎯 Thank you for sharing.
@DrTechlash Totally agree. Not Related : I was speed scrolling through my timeline. This came , and FOR A BRIEF MOMENT - my mind read it AL PACINO Glad, I stopped and read it. Informative.
@officialKrishD LOL
@DrTechlash This kind of simplistic fact free quite often hysterical reporting is how the media reports every issue over the last 5 years. It’s almost impossible to find a journalist with any kind of technical background now. True journalism is dead and buried.
@DrTechlash Where are the flying robo-taxis? I think the Silicon Valley Hype leads to all the rest. ( As well as Elizabeth Holmes)
@DrTechlash All 7 are important but in particular, "anthropomorphizing AI" needs to be called out.
@DrTechlash These faults are , in fact, media coverage of everything !
@DrTechlash GEH aside, I haven't seen the "existential AI threat" much aired on MSM. Rather, journalists comically can't separate this from the jobs & misinformation issues. While I agree with the rest of your critique, don't dismiss the guy who was right about most everything for 40 years.