Overwhelmed By All The Generative AI Headlines? This Guide Is For You

Overhype

from the attack-of-the-stupid-media-coverage dept

Between Sydney “tried to break up my marriage” and “blew my mind because of her personality,” we have had a lot of journalists anthropomorphizing AI chatbots lately. 

TIME’s cover story decided to go even further and argued: “If future AIs gain the ability to rapidly improve themselves without human guidance or intervention, they could potentially wipe out humanity.” In this scenario, the computer scientists’ job is “making sure the AIs don’t wipe us out!” 

Hmmm. Okay.

There’s a strange synergy now between people who hype AI’s capabilities and those who thereby create false fears (about those so-called capabilities). 

The false fears part of this equation usually escalates to absurdity. Like headlines that begin with a “war” (a new culture clash and a total war between artists and machines), progress to a “deadly war” (“Will AI generators kill the artist?”), and end up in a total Doomsday scenario (“AI could kill Everyone”!). 

I previously called this phenomenon – “Techlash Filter.” In a nutshell, while Instagram filters make us look younger and Lensa makes us hotter, Techlash filters make technology scarier. 

And, oh boy, how AI is scary right now… just see this front page: “Attack of the psycho chatbot.”

It’s all overwhelming. But I’m here to tell you that none of this is new. By studying the media’s coverage of AI, we can see how it follows old patterns.

Since we are flooded with news about generative AI and its “magic powers,” I want to help you navigate the terrain. Looking at past media studies, I gathered the “Top 10 AI frames” (By Hannes Cools, Baldwin Van Gorp, and Michaël Opgenhaffen, 2022). They are organized from the most positive (pro-AI) to the most negative (anti-AI). Together, they encapsulate the media’s “know-how” for describing AI. 

Following each title and short description, you’ll see how it is manifested in current media coverage of generative AI. My hope is that after reading this, you’ll be able to cut through the AI hype. 

1. Gate to Heaven.

A win-win situation for humans, where machines do things without human interference. AI brings a futuristic utopian ideal. The sensationalism here exaggerates the potential benefits and positive consequences of AI. 

– Examples: Technology makes us more human | 5 Unexpected ways AI can save the world

2. Helping Hand.

The co-pilot theme. It focuses on AI assisting humans in performing tasks. It includes examples of tasks humans will not need to do in the future because AI will do the job for them. This will free humans up to do other, better, more interesting tasks.

– Examples: 7 ways to use ChatGPT at work to boost your productivity, make your job easier, and save a ton of time | ChatGPT and AI tools help a dyslexic worker send near-perfect emails | How generative AI will help power your presentation in 2023

3. Social Progress and Economic Development.

Improvement process: how AI will herald new social developments. AI as a means of improving the quality of life or solving problems. Economic development includes investments, market benefits, and competitiveness at the local, national, or global level.

– Examples: How generative AI will supercharge productivity | How artificial intelligence can (eventually) benefit poorer countries | Growing VC interest in generative AI

4. Public Accountability and Governance.

The capabilities of AI are dependent on human knowledge. It’s often linked to the responsibility of humans for how AI is shaped and developed. It focuses on policymaking, regulation, and issues like control, ownership, participation, responsiveness, and transparency.

– Examples: The EU wants to regulate your favorite AI tools | How do you regulate advanced AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard?

5. Scientific Uncertainty.

A debate over what is known versus unknown, with an emphasis on the unknown. AI is ever-evolving but remains a black box.

– Examples: ChatGPT can be broken by entering these strange words, and nobody is sure why | Asking Bing’s AI whether it’s sentient apparently causes it to totally freak out 

6. Ethics.

AI quests are depicted as right or wrong—a moral judgment: a matter of respect or disrespect for limits, thresholds, and boundaries.

– Examples: Chatbots got big – and their ethical red flags got bigger | How companies can practice ethical AI

Some articles can have two or three themes combined. For example, “The scary truth about AI copyright is nobody knows what will happen next” can be coded as Public Accountability and Governance, Scientific Uncertainty, and Ethics.

7. Conflict

A game among elites, a battle of personalities and groups, who’s ahead or behind / who’s winning or losing in the race to develop the latest AI technology.

– Examples: How ChatGPT kicked off an AI arms race | Search wars reignited by artificial intelligence breakthroughs

8. Shortcoming.

AI lacks specific features that need the proper assistance of humans. Due to its flaws, humans must oversee the technology.

– Examples: Nonsense on Stilts | The hilarious & horrifying hallucinations of AI

9. Kasparov Syndrome.

We will be overruled by AI. It will overthrow us, and humans will lose part of their autonomy, which will result in job losses.

– Examples: ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace. | ChatGPT could make these jobs obsolete: ‘The wolf is at the door’

10. Frankenstein’s Monster/Pandora’s Box

AI poses an existential threat to humanity or what it means to be human. It includes the loss of human control (entire autonomy). It calls for action in the face of out-of-control consequences and possible catastrophes. The sensationalism here exaggerates the potential dangers and negative impacts of AI.

– Examples: Is this the start of an AI Takeover? | Advanced AI ‘Could kill everyone’, warn Oxford researcher | The AI arms race is changing everything

Interestingly, studies found that the frames most commonly used by the media when discussing AI are “a helping hand” and “social progress” or the alarming “Frankenstein’s monster/Pandora’s Box.” It’s unsurprising, as the media is drawn to extreme depictions.  

If you think that the above examples represent the peak of the current panic, I’m sorry to say that we haven’t reached it yet. Along with the enthusiastic utopian promises, expect more dystopian descriptions of Skynet (Terminator), HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey), and Frankenstein’s monster.

The extreme edges provide media outlets with interesting material, for sure. However, “there’s a large greyscale between utopian dreams and dystopian nightmares.” It is the responsibility of tech journalists to minimize negative and positive hype. 

Today, it is more crucial than ever to portray AI – realistically.

Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt (@DrTechlash) is the author of The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication

Filed Under: ai, generative ai, hype, media