Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have been aggressively promoting the idea that everyone — children included — should form relationships with AI “friends” or “companions.” Meanwhile, multinational tech companies are pushing the concept of “AI agents” designed to assist us in our personal and professional lives, handle routine tasks and guide decision-making.
But the reality is that AI systems are not and never will be friends, companions or agents. They are and will always remain machines. We should be honest about that and push back against misleading marketing that suggests otherwise.
The most deceptive term of all is “artificial intelligence.” These systems are not truly intelligent, and what we call “AI” today is simply a set of technical tools designed to mimic certain cognitive functions. They are not capable of true comprehension and are neither objective, fair nor neutral.
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