The meaning of ���AI���

There are different kinds of buzzwords.

Some buzzwords are useful. They take a concept that would otherwise require a sentence of explanation and package it up into a single word or phrase. Back in the day, ���ajax��� was a pretty good buzzword.

Some buzzwords are worse than useless. This is when a word or phrase lacks definition. You could say this buzzword in a meeting with five people, and they���d all understand five different meanings. Back in the day, ���web 2.0��� was a classic example of a bad buzzword���for some people it meant a business model; for others it meant rounded corners and gradients.

The worst kind of buzzwords are the ones that actively set out to obfuscate any actual meaning. ���The cloud��� is a classic example. It sounds cooler than saying ���a server in Virginia���, but it also sounds like the exact opposite of what it actually is. Great for marketing. Terrible for understanding.

���AI��� is definitely not a good buzzword. But I can���t quite decide if it���s merely a bad buzzword like ���web 2.0��� or a truly terrible buzzword like ���the cloud���.

The biggest problem with the phrase ���AI��� is that there���s a name collision.

For years, the term ���AI��� has been used in science-fiction. HAL 9000. Skynet. Examples of artificial general intelligence.

Now the term ���AI��� is also used to describe large language models. But there is no connection between this use of the term ���AI��� and the science fictional usage.

This leads to the ludicrous situation of otherwise-rational people wanted to discuss the dangers of ���AI���, but instead of talking about the rampant exploitation and energy usage endemic to current large language models, they want to spend the time talking about the sci-fi scenarios of runaway ���AI���.

To understand how ridiculous this is, I���d like you to imagine if we had started using a different buzzword in another setting���

Suppose that when ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft were starting out, they had decided to label their services as Time Travel. From a marketing point of view, it even makes sense���they get you from point A to point B lickety-split.

Now imagine if otherwise-sensible people began to sound the alarm about the potential harms of Time Travel. Given the explosive growth we���ve seen in this sector, sooner or later they���ll be able to get you to point B before you���ve even left point A. There could be terrible consequences from that���we���ve all seen the sci-fi scenarios where this happens.

Meanwhile the actual present-day harms of ride-sharing services around worker exploitation would be relegated to the sidelines. Clearly that isn���t as important as the existential threat posed by Time Travel.

It sounds ludicrous, right? It defies common sense. Just because a vehicle can get you somewhere fast today doesn���t mean it���s inevitably going to be able to break the laws of physics any day now, simply because it���s called Time Travel.

And yet that is exactly the nonsense we���re being fed about large language models. We call them ���AI���, we look at how much they can do today, and we draw a straight line to what we know of ���AI��� in our science fiction.

This ridiculous situation could���ve been avoided if we had settled on a more accurate buzzword like ���applied statistics��� instead of ���AI���.

It���s almost as if the labelling of the current technologies was more about marketing than accuracy.