Why is AI thought leadership so bad?

When you read about AI, you've got to approach it first and foremost with this mindset: most people have no idea what the fuck they're talking about.

One of my main hobbies is reading short-form internet articles, in greater quantity than you'd actually think is healthy, with an intentionally broad exposure spectrum. I do read the "big names" in AI, and a fair number of research papers - but I also want to know what everyday people think about it! Labs build the tech but everyone builds the culture.

And let me tell you, for as much as we self-criticize, the on-Bluesky discussion culture is actually some of the better AI chat that's happening out there. You would not believe how godawful it's gotten in the deepest cesspools of X, LinkedIn, Reddit, and even Facebook.

This is especially true among less-technical users. There are some "end user" communities I won't link to as I don't want to draw attention to users who have more or less auto-gangstalked themselves via use of AI tools. It's tragic stuff that goes deeper than mainstream media is reporting on.

I started writing a longer post on AI cost effectiveness and budgeting, but I wanted to talk about why real world outcomes are so hard to understand. I blame incentives from many directions to spread bad content about AI, such that it drowns out almost any high quality "ground truth" info about real world AI adoption. And that got long enough to pull out on its own!

So, here's my typology of why AI posts are especially bad, ranked from the honest to the craven:

Of course, much of this boils down to "you can't trust everything you read". Always true, but there's many different reasons to not trust people! Understanding why something is bullshit in specific detail means that you can better explain it to your friends without just saying that "the vibes are off".

Perhaps you can even address it:

Your CEO needs some education from someone who isn't a McKinseyite

The "afflicted" need help if possible and to be politely ignored if not

The scam guys need to be driven out of the industry the way we drove crypto posters off of Bluesky

I don't know if any of these flawed discussion modes are really solvable at a structural level, but with a little discernment and effort you really can improve your local information environment for you and your friends.