AI Is a Celebrity Technology
A suiting metaphor—and the consequences it entails—for the most well-known technology of our times.
A few days ago I had a conversation with a couple of reporters that were researching large language models for a super popular news TV program. I was explaining to them what makes AI attract so many eyes and interest and why it has become the buzzword of the decade. As I was talking, I came up with a good metaphor for anyone to understand why: AI is a celebrity technology.
People—including politicians, investors, company executives, and researchers—treat AI and derivative applications differently than they treat other technologies with comparable upside (think: biotech, quantum computing, fusion energy, space travel). The amount of interest and attention AI gets doesn’t correspond to the value it provides—as great as that may be.
Although the metaphor is nowhere near perfect, it’s exactly what happens with human celebrities in sports, music, or cinema: They grab most of our attention and it’s not because of a rational assessment of the value they provide, but because of s…