As significant investments pour into artificial intelligence startups, many individuals are expressing concern about the creation of an expanding financial bubble that is destined to explode. In their forthcoming book, “The AI Con: How to Fight Big Technology’s Hype and Create the Future We Want,” researchers Emily Bender and Alex Hanna contend that the sector, likewise, is enveloped by a equally dangerous bubble of “hype.” Their goal is to penetrate that bubble, enlightening the public about the true workings of AI, the damages it inflicts, and the privileged few that are positioned to gain from it.
Hanna, a sociologist, was part of Google’s Ethical AI team before departing in 2022 due to frustrations over the company’s inadequate response to the harm produced by its technology. Subsequently, she became involved with the Distributed AI Research Institute, founded by her former manager Timnit Gebru. Bender, a linguistics professor at the University of Washington, has a long history of examining AI and machine-learning systems, focusing on their detrimental effects. She gained prominence with a paper in which she and her collaborators, including Gebru, referred to large-language models as “stochastic parrots” for their capability to imitate human languages convincingly.
Bender and Hanna begin by scrutinizing the very phrase “artificial intelligence.” They argue that AI merely serves as a marketing label for a diverse array of technologies, such as language models and classification systems, which obscure their actual functions. They advocate for the precise naming of these systems, often describing generative AI chatbots, exemplified by ChatGPT, as “text extrusion machines.”
Furthermore, they explore the historical context of the technology and its associated hype. In subsequent chapters, they assert that AI is eroding labor, functioning as a low-quality substitute for healthcare and social services, and is built upon appropriated works from artists while undermining creative endeavors. They challenge the belief that this technology is unavoidable or that it will lead to a catastrophic superintelligence, arguing that such notions are merely further hype. In alignment with their book’s theme, they propose methods for individuals to resist and advocate for a fairer world, starting with the decision to abstain from using AI services.
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