AI Nerds Are People Who Like Everything - by Alberto Romero

This is the first part of a five-part essay on the psychology of AI nerds, a topic I’ve been wanting to explore for a while (I published a timid approximation recently). Why “AI nerds”? I use the term liberally, but not derogatorily. It’s a shorthand to describe, under one overarching label that encompasses character, thinking patterns, interests, and goals, the psychology of those building AI for the industry at the highest level (arguably the weirdest demographic with the greatest power to shape our future). Concretely, I mean the kind of person who sees AI as an engine of unfathomable progress (their words), a vehicle toward utopia. Normal people see them as cultists, members of a new faith. By virtue of variability and personal inclinations, however, the term is a statistical fiction, a stereotype: it captures some common traits that define the average AI person, but no individual can be faithfully encapsulated by the label. Many people working in AI don’t belong under this label,

This is the first part of a five-part essay on the psychology of AI nerds, a topic I’ve been wanting to explore for a while (I published a timid approximation recently). Why “AI nerds”? I use the term liberally, but not derogatorily. It’s a shorthand to describe, under one overarching label that encompasses character, thinking patterns, interests, and goals, the psychology of those building AI for the industry at the highest level (arguably the weirdest demographic with the greatest power to shape our future). Concretely, I mean the kind of person who sees AI as an engine of unfathomable progr