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Deflating “Hype” Won’t Save Us

liberalcurrents.com · 3,605 words · saved by 1 readers

We find ourselves in a moment where big tech has allied with the far right, where AI mass produces fascist slop aesthetics, where visas are getting revoked because AI tools took issue with someone’s speech, and where an AI job crisis is unfolding. Meanwhile, many criticisms of AI latch on to the lies and exaggerations used in marketing chatbots and other technologies. They focus on identifying and deflating hype (or on calling AI snake oil, suggesting that it’s all a bubble, a con, a scam, a hoax, etc.). This kind of critical frame is dangerously inadequate for understanding what is actually going on, let alone for doing something about it. Even if the AI peddlers listened and the hype disappeared, the problems would remain. So the problem with AI isn’t hype. The problem is who and what it’s useful for. Before we get into the weeds of what is and isn’t the problem, some important caveats: First, we’re not denying that there is plenty of hype. Marketing departments and even journalists

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