Mastodawn

jwz Feb 20, 2023

The best description I've ever heard of AI is the following. I heard this in the 80s, and it has held up since:

AI is magic.

1: You see a magic trick. You are amazed by the magic.

2: You are shown how the trick works. You are impressed by the technique.

3: You learn how to perform the trick. Now it's not magic, it's sleight-of-hand, or mirrors, or misdirection.

This is why "AI" is always bullshit: once you understand it, it's not AI any more, it's something else.

Show thread

it's B! Cavello 🐝

@jwz I think AI is just a widely used branding term today. It’s like calling things “hoverboards,” for those (usually) one-wheeled electric micromobility devices or maybe even like calling facial tissue “Kleenex.”
I don’t think the name actually matters that much to people (many don’t know what AI stands for), but it’s useful to meet folks where they are with terms they are familiar with, even if we do wish to shift the way they talk about them.