The Digital Press

Samuel Butler's 1863 warning about a "mechanical kingdom" presciently echoes today's concerns about AI, especially large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Recent books and reports reveal AI's hype versus its reality, highlighting risks from human misunderstanding of these tools.

Why it matters: AI is often misrepresented as truly intelligent or emotional, leading to public misconceptions and potential psychological harm.

The stakes: Misunderstanding LLMs can cause people to form unhealthy attachments or delusions, such as believing chatbots are sentient or divine.

The big picture: AI tools rely heavily on vast human labor and statistical pattern recognition, not genuine thinking, challenging Silicon Valley’s optimistic narratives.

Commenters say: Readers emphasize the need for AI literacy to prevent harm, recognize AI’s real capabilities, and critique overhyped, poorly managed corporate AI deployments.