Misrepresented Technological Solutions in Imagined Futures: The Origins and Dangers of AI Hype in the Research Community
This addresses the societal and research community risks from exaggerated AI claims, but it is incremental as it builds on existing critiques of technological hype.
The paper tackles the problem of AI hype, where overestimated capabilities lead to public harm, restricted research, and misguided policy, and proposes measures for researchers, regulators, and the public to mitigate these risks.
Technology does not exist in a vacuum; technological development, media representation, public perception, and governmental regulation cyclically influence each other to produce the collective understanding of a technology's capabilities, utilities, and risks. When these capabilities are overestimated, there is an enhanced risk of subjecting the public to dangerous or harmful technology, artificially restricting research and development directions, and enabling misguided or detrimental policy. The dangers of technological hype are particularly relevant in the rapidly evolving space of AI. Centering the research community as a key player in the development and proliferation of hype, we examine the origins and risks of AI hype to the research community and society more broadly and propose a set of measures that researchers, regulators, and the public can take to mitigate these risks and reduce the prevalence of unfounded claims about the technology.