Trust in AI technology and the companies that develop it is dropping, in both the U.S. and around the world, according to new data from Edelman shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The move comes as regulators around the world are deciding what rules should apply to the fast-growing industry. “Trust is the currency of the AI era, yet, as it stands, our innovation account is dangerously overdrawn,” Edelman global technology chair Justin Westcott told Axios in an email. “Companies must move beyond the mere mechanics of AI to address its true cost and value — the ‘why’ and ‘for whom.’”
Some people found the primitive ELIZA chatbot from 1966 convincing, but I don’t think anyone would claim it was true AI. Turing Test notwithstanding, I don’t think “convincing people who want to be convinced” should be the minimum test for artificial intelligence. It’s just a categorization glitch.
Maybe I’m not stating my point explicitly enough but it actually is that names or goalposts aren’t very important. Cultural impact is. I think already the current AI has had a lot more impact than any chatbot from the 60s and we can only expect that to increase. This tech has rendered the turing test obsolete, which kind of speaks volumes.
Calling a cat a dog won’t make her start jumping into ponds to fetch sticks for you. And calling a glorified autocomplete “intelligence” (artificial or otherwise) doesn’t make it smart.
Problem is, words have meanings. Well, they do to actual humans, anyway. And associating the word “intelligence” with these stochastic parrots will encourage nontechnical people to believe LLMs actually are intelligent. That’s dangerous—potentially life-threatening. Downplaying the technology is an attempt to prevent this mindset from taking hold. It’s about as effective as bailing the ocean with a teaspoon, yes, but some of us see even that as better than doing nothing.
