Rather than new metaphors we basically need more honest discussion in the public interest. We probably also need to intervene with the excessive claims for AI.
There are many similarities with AI hype and the situation of people who believe in Intelligent Design.
People who deeply wish for a non-human intelligence suspend their incredulity and effective scientific testing of the claims. It's worse with AI because the people who made it know its just an interactive box making words (or mashups of stolen pictures) for output. They also know that the gullibility and ignorance of the public allows them to mask the huge cost to the planet for making another toy to befuddle and distract the masses.
It's the inherent ambiguity of the AI words that marketers have sought to exploit from the start. Advertising puff or misleading and deceptive conduct?
When they were sued in DC for making false claims about their "recyclable" water-bottles, their defense was that these were "non-actionable #puffery." According to Bluetriton, when it described itself as "a guardian of sustainable resources" and "a company who, at its core, cares about water," it was being "vague and hyperbolic."
https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/26/plastic-fatalistic/#recycled-lies
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It's interesting how many companies are in full blown "me too!" mode about AI. (That's the old Usenet "me too!", not the more modern hashtag.)
Here's the thing I've seen so far, though -- very few of these companies actually seem to have any idea what AI is about. They seem to think that if a computer does it, it's somehow AI.
If only there were some way of compelling these companies not to lie... Oh, right -- our politicians decided to protect them from the truth. #Puffery
Craig Duncan
ConscienHealth
Cory Doctorow
Jan 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🇨🇦
Ian Kenway