Stuff is all about the gadgets. We rarely cross the streams and mention the P-word. (That’s politics, not Palm, Inc – although both should probably be whispered in hushed tones.) But sometimes it’s impossible to avoid the loudest voices interrupting the conversation. One such outburst recently came out of the mouth and keyboard of Donald Trump, King of the United States. After apparently getting tired of renaming bodies of water, he declared that Artificial Intelligence should henceforth be called Super Intelligence. For what? Because ‘super’ is a more appropriate modifier for transformative technology than ‘artificial’.
Tech Bros rejoiced. Elon ‘X marks the red’ Musk said he would rename SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI. Jeff ‘pay me $3 or watch an ad before I talk to you’ Bezos said he likes SI because people artificially associate with something fake. Which, you know, a lot of the output of AI actually is. Meanwhile, Meta finally had something to feel after launching Meta Superintelligence Labs more than a year ago, presumably to maintain Skynet. Only this Skynet won’t crush human skulls under hideous robotic armor; instead, it will destroy human souls under endless AI slop.
It should come as no surprise that these usual suspects got on board with what quickly became an executive order. Great proposed glory. It is a strong word. It’s the kind of thing a marketing executive might come up with during a brainstorming session while casually winking and making a double-finger-point gesture your way. Although for King Trump it was surprisingly restrained. Frankly, I’m shocked he managed to hold back on renaming the technology SUPER DUPER USA TRUMP INTELLIGENCE. However, any semblance of moderation has been erased by what he has said since.
Enemy in the GAItes
I woke up this morning to discover that I am apparently ‘the enemy’. Lord High Pooh-Bah Trump has proclaimed that anyone who still says “Artificial Intelligence” – rather than what he calls (and I’m not kidding) the “highly accepted new and more accurate term” – is “THE FEIN”. And, yes, that bit was in all caps. I’m half surprised the rest of his post was not too.
So there we go. Artificial intelligence is now super intelligence. Although, you know, the AI countless people struggle with every day confidently serves the recycled slop as fact, struggles to count, is designed for engagement (and thus flatters you at every turn) and has encouraged people to act in ways that could cause them or others serious harm.
I’m not some kind of anti-AI zealot. I see the good that technology can do in this space, such as real breakthroughs in medical research. But the way it’s being asked of everyone, all the time, with little regard for resources, security, intellectual property rights, accuracy and even basic service, strikes me as anything but great.
It is more than sometimes quite useful, although it is now being given out everywhere to do everything deep intelligence. Aka SQUANDERED intelligence. Which, given the way cash is being poured into this tech bubble, seems much more appropriate to me.
So until the AI that surrounds me is really consistently great, rather than so often wasteful, irritating, obtrusive and objectively wrong, I’ll stick with the old term. And if that makes me ‘the enemy’, so be it. It’s not like I was planning on going to Mar-a-Lago anyway.
