Artificial Intelligence is Artificial News (2025)

Artificial Intelligence is Artificial News

I do not believe humans have created actual Artificial Intelligence. The term AI was being thrown around far more frequently when Large Language Models (LLMs) hit the scene with ChatGPT, followed by Grok. These LLMs are not true thinking artificial intelligence; they are correctly classified as narrow AI, systems that exhibit intelligence only in specific tasks like language generation, while completely lacking general cognition or genuine reasoning. Although the broader “AI” umbrella technically includes them, the label is still a significant stretch of the traditional definition.

Meanwhile, many ordinary software technologies that previously went by names like automation, machine learning, or rule-based systems are now being aggressively rebranded as “AI” by marketing slicks, sales departments, and advertising agencies. This “AI washing” is pure branding to make decades-old products sound cutting-edge and sexy. As a result, basic CRM platforms, chatbots, and predictive analytics tools that functionally remain unchanged are suddenly marketed as revolutionary AI.

The integration of LLMs into popular search engines has further amplified the public perception of an explosive takeover by thinking, reasoning machines. This has created widespread hysteria and fear that is entirely unwarranted: no system capable of anything close to human-level reasoning, creativity, or general intelligence exists today, and current technology remains primitive in that regard.

Expert surveys of AI researchers (AI Impacts 2023–2025, Metaculus researcher subsets, and others) show a median forecast for human-level machine intelligence around 2040–2060, with many researchers placing it beyond 2050 and very low probability (<10–15%) of arrival before 2035. True general AI is therefore likely at least 15–30 years away, not the imminent threat the marketing hype suggests.

The threat of AI replacing mankind or becoming sentient and taking over our government and society is an absurd Hollywood-inspired fear. The hype over AI is largely fictional and bears no more threat than does an alien invasion from outer space.

Technologies mislabeled as AI that aid in military tactics and coordination do pose a threat, but they are merely part of the continued development in the industry that has to be pursued to maintain a balance of power.

If you’re losing sleep over AI, fearing it will become your lord and master, take your job, or help the Chinese conquer the world, then you’re just cheating yourself out of a good night’s rest. Technology in warfare has been a threat for decades now, with AI not introducing any real escalation beyond the norm. For jobs replaced by technology, new jobs will be created in the technology, and the continued process of development and innovation will continue as normal under whatever branding marketing slicks come up with.

Do not let the hype scare you; rather embrace innovation and understand the benefits for mankind.

Sources

• AI Impacts 2023 Survey of AI researchers: median year for "high-level machine intelligence" ≈ 2047 (https://aiimpacts.org/2023-expert-survey-on-progress-in-ai/)
• Metaculus community prediction (continuously updated as of 2025): median for AGI ≈ 2032, but researcher subsets significantly later, often 2040–2060 range
• Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (4th ed., 2020) – standard definition of narrow vs. general AI
• IEEE Spectrum and ACM Communications multiple articles (2023–2025): repeated documentation of "AI washing" in enterprise software marketing
• Katja Grace et al., "When Will AI Exceed Human Performance? Evidence from AI Experts" (2018, updated analysis through 2023) – timelines lengthened in later surveys

Related

Technologies of the past that created widespread fear until later understood and appreciated.

The printed book (15th–16th century) Fear: Clerics and scholars warned that Gutenberg’s printing press would destroy memory, spread heresy, cheapen knowledge, and cause intellectual chaos.

• Outcome: Became the foundation of widespread literacy, science, and the Renaissance.

Electricity in homes (1880s–1910s) Fear: Newspapers and public figures called household electricity dangerous and unnatural; people feared instant death from light switches, “electrocution mania,” and that it would replace honest work.

• Outcome: Transformed daily life, safety, productivity, and enabled virtually all modern technology.

The automobile (1890s–1920s) Fear: Horses were “natural”; cars were called noisy, dangerous “devil wagons” that would kill jobs (coachmen, blacksmiths, stable hands), pollute cities, and cause mass unemployment and chaos.

• Outcome: Revolutionized transport, created millions of new jobs, and became a cornerstone of personal freedom and economic growth.

All three followed the same cycle you describe with today’s AI panic: initial hysteria → moral outrage → gradual understanding → indispensable tool.