There are ways of controlling the new technology—but fi rst we have tostop mythologizing it.

As a computer scientist, I don’t like the term “A.I.” In fact, I think it’smisleading—maybe even a little dangerous. Everybody’s already using the term, and it might seem a little late in the day to be arguing about it. But we’re at the beginning of a new technological era — and the easiest way to mismanagea technology is to misunderstand it.