Why AI needs PR

In the debate about whether AI is going to save us all/kill us all one important voice seems to be missing: that of the AI industry.

Last week the mooted “Godfather of AI” quit Google and more or less warned that his life’s work is a danger to humanity.

Yesterday the co-founder of Apple said that AI makes scams and misinformation harder to spot.

Since neither Geoffrey Hinton nor Steve Wozniak are actual Luddites, desperate to stop progress, their warnings plainly need taking seriously.

The other thing they need is some push back from the sector, and at the most basic level.

How many jobs has AI created, rather than destroyed? What’s the positive vision for the future that the industry shares?

If you ask AI bosses that sort of thing they get defensive. They can’t believe us ink and pen people still need persuading of AI’s inherent brilliance.

This debate, they say, is not helpful, as if saying that means they won’t have to have it.

AI is in need of intelligent PR. The sort done by humans.