Bad Words
2026/06/02
This is a rant about "AI": not the technology, nor its politics, but the term, and how we're better off without it.
"AI" is a highly subjective term describing real, objective technologies.
Colloquially, "AI" is used to describe:
- Large language models (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.)
- Neural networks
- Linear regression models
- Diffusion models (models that generate images or video)
- Robotics
- Autonomous drones
- Video classification models
- Speech-to-text programs (automatic speech recognition)
- Text-to-speech programs
- Deterministic programming of non-player characters in video games (anyone remember F.E.A.R?)
- The various content discovery and classification algorithms used by TikTok, YouTube, Meta, etc.
- Business analytics
- Predictive modeling
- Quantum computers
- Electric toothbrushes
- The Mechanical Turk
- Akinator, the mind reading genie
- Any robotic or artificial character in fictional media
- A theoretical artificial general intelligence that doesn't exist and we don't know how it would work, but it might someday, and it'll likely kill us all, but we should strive to create it anyway because someone else might first
A lot of these innovations have to do with recent, notable leaps in machine learning (which are fascinating, historical, and deserving of being disseminated as public knowledge), but certainly not all. With each miscellaneous technology that has this label tacked onto it, the term grows further diluted, and less clearly tied to this domain.
Add the perverse economic incentive in which adding "AI" to your product offerings can result in 600% stock price surges and the semantic umbrella for this term is set up to expand continually.
It actively hinders us from having productive conversations about modern technology.
Technology impacts all of us. Increasingly, it impacts those who never opt in to its use.
https://apnews.com/surveillance-digital-cage
In order to have a conversation about any of the above technologies with anyone, be it a stranger, a family member, or your elected representative, we have to agree on what words mean. If we don't, we necessarily get caught up in semantic incompatibility, and ideas aren't successfully communicated.
In a sense, adopting this language makes us dumber, because we can't effectively communicate with each other.
It leads to misuse and careless application of highly impactful technologies.
It's condescending.
To no one's surprise, 65% of US residents believe they are smarter than average, according to a somewhat recent survey.
What does this mean in practice? It means when the average American conceives the idea of the "average American", they likely think of someone significantly dumber than reality would reflect.
Every writer or speaker that opts to use "AI" to cater to this imagined average American when a more specific term would be apt contributes to this cycle of industrial condescension: people get less technical, more vague information than what they could feasibly comprehend, and so are deprived of helpful knowledge they could have integrated. Repeated day after day, year after year, doesn't this become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Don't you feel the belittling and debilitating tone of communication around AI?
In conclusion:
Say what you mean.
Let's reject this term entirely. Engage your linguistic gag reflex. It doesn't serve the public.
My intent isn't to police language, but to hopefully have convinced you that this term is unhelpful. It's used to disorient and disable us from comprehending or discussing the impact of new technology that heavily affects our lives.
Language is so crucial. It's how ideas, thoughts, concepts, and feelings live or die. If you want to talk about ChatGPT, don't call it "AI"; call it an "LLM". That's what it is. If you want to talk about machine learning in general, just use that term! It's specific and communicative! The words we use matter, and using this uncommunicative acronym for everything hinders our ability to engage in discourse and action to control the technologies it alludes to, effectively forfeiting our role in determining their integration, and our future.