The state of AI

At the end of his ground-breaking novel The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner writes:

“There are two kinds of fools. One says, ‘This is old, and therefore good.’ And one says, ‘This is new, and therefore better.’”

This captures the current discourse around AI remarkably well.

On one side, we see an influx of investment, personnel, and strategic focus that seems, at times, detached from economic fundamentals.

On the other, there is a rejection of the technology that goes beyond skepticism and occasionally borders on the ideological, often accompanied by claims of a uniquely human superiority that is treated as self-evident rather than examined.

This text is an attempt to step outside both positions. The goal is not to defend or attack AI, but to understand it: to explore why it is simultaneously glorified and vilified, and what a more realistic trajectory might look like.

There is, of course, much more to AI than its generative capabilities. But much of the current discourse collapses these distinctions. For the sake of consistency, this text will do the same.

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