If a book is claiming to be critical of so-called "AI" and feels the need to include "AGI" but includes it in any other way but completely dismantling and ridiculing the nonsense that is "AGI": The book basically disqualifies itself. Covering "AGI" with any ambiguity simply says that the author is willing to sacrifice analytic clarity for appeasing "AI" hypers.

I still have an iPhone 13 Mini that I hold very dear (I love small phones). I reluctantly finally installed iOS 26 yesterday. Hot damn: What an ugly, hectic mess. It's all fluff for fluff sake and borderline aggressively user-hostile. A perfect example of a company having to "innovate" as part of its corporate theater. And of course: It's performance is noticeably worse, killing all joy of using the perfectly adequately powered device.

OpenAI stopped letting ChatGPT generate text that humans would perceive as legal or medical advice. I may eat my words but I strongly feel like this single decision will be looked back at the moment the "AI" hype collapsed. The hype is over. Now comes the time of collapse and downfall. The price will - as in 2008/2009 - be paid by the collective. And the same grifters that cheered for "AI" will be back soon with new speculative FOMO tech.

It has been a while since I felt as torn about a book as I do with "The AI Con" (2025) by @Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her) and @Alex Hanna. Both are well respected experts, not only regarding their expertise but also regarding their personal conviction. Their book was much anticipated and became a reference as a critical and sober perspective on the hype around so-called "AI". After reading it, I'd like to share a few thoughts. #Thread