Embed Notice

I've always been a fan of anthropomorphizing computers and programs, because first of all, they hate it when you do that. Second, it's funny and cute, and third it's convenient shorthand when you talk to people who are in on the joke.

I've been thinking that people have a stick up their ass when they complain it's imprecise, misleading, etc. Relax, it's just a sleight of hand, a figure of speech.

But now I see the harm. People who are not in on the joke, and it's becoming clear that that's most of the 99% who are not programmers – and even some of the programmers – take it at face value and then we throw billions of dollars into "A(G)I safety" that could have been spent on automation ("AI") ethics or things that aren't hyped as AI at all.