Tech Journalism Has An AI Problem
I am unashamedly, unapologetically, unreservedly pro-AI. Just getting that out of the way now so there’s no doubt in your mind about my views on the subject.
This stance, however, puts me firmly in the minority of people who write about technology on the internet. In fact, the burgeoning consensus appears to be that AI is bad, possibly even evil, and it should be denounced whenever possible. Invariably this takes the form of the boorish, millennial snark that is so prevalent in tech journalism.
Don’t believe me? Lets just take a look at a few AI headlines from major publications:
’Pro AI, Pro-Pollution, Pro Surveillance : What You Should Know About Trumps Budget’ - The Verge
Guilty by association, your honour
‘AI Is Eating Data Centre Power Demand - And It’s Only Getting Worse’ - WIRED
Popular technology uses power; the shocking truth revealed
‘Did Google Lie About Building a Deadly Chatbot? Judge Finds It Plausible' - Ars Technica
Your tears say more than real evidence ever could
So why would people who are paid to write about technology, be so dismissive of arguably the most significant advancement since the invention of the internet? Simple; it’s coming for them. Since the advent of what we now call AI, it has been clear that producing intelligible, informative text is one of it’s strong suits. It is also now increasingly capable of reviewing multiple sources, weighing up competing perspectives, and providing a concise and largely factual run-down of pretty much any topic that is pointed at. You know, what journalists are supposed to do.
AI still makes mistakes, and it is in the reaction to those mistakes that the existential dread is revealed. Tech journalists were quick to jump all over the errors made by Google’s AI Overviews decrying the suggestion of glue on pizza like it was some unexpected catastrophe, and even going so far as to suggest that AI based on Large Language Models are inherently flawed. You could imagine the same sort of tedious, self-important cynics rolling their eyes the first time the Wright Brothers plane only managed 12 seconds in the air.
There are some prominent commentators that have retained their enthusiasm for burgeoning technology, but they are few and far between. What is interesting however, was the reaction to Google’s recent AI-drenched ‘io’ conference. From my perspective at least, it was the most promising tech-focussed event in recent memory. AI has moved out of its awkward teenage years and is starting to mature into something tangible, with consistent vocabulary and honest-to-god products that consumers can actually spend money on. This excitement was palpable across the tech-sphere, as the combination of solid use-cases and revolutionary possibilities came together in an avalanche of ideas.
Herein lies the rub for tech journalists. Do they continue to talk down AI, willfully turning a blind eye to its radical potential for widespread disruption, in service to a dying notion of journalism? There’s an irony here, that technologists have always excused the inexorable march of progress when it has consequences for other industries. Now the bell tolls for thee, the rearguard has finally been deployed.
