In chapter 7 we consider the question of why myths about AI are so pervasive. Companies not only hype up their tech but also use their enormous wealth and power in ways that make academia and the press less effective as counterweights to their self-serving claims. In fact, academic researchers are as often a source of hype in AI as they are a voice of reason. In many fields, researchers have falsely come to a consensus that AI is highly accurate in their respective domains, all based on flawed and irreproducible research. We’ll look at civil war prediction as one example.

Over the course of this book, we have seen that people believe all sorts of myths about AI, and that those myths can help prop up AI snake oil. Why do myths about AI persist? This chapter sketches out an answer. We will go over the major sources of hype: companies, researchers, journalists, and public figures, and see how they exploit cognitive biases to misinform the public.