<![CDATA[Askwho Casts AI: AI Article Readings]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/s/ai-article-readingshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pkvn!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f55f5bb-892d-4b2f-909c-02838144516c_456x456.pngAskwho Casts AI: AI Article Readingshttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/s/ai-article-readingsSubstackSun, 19 Apr 2026 23:16:01 GMT<![CDATA[Contra Benn Jordan, data center (and all) sub-audible infrasound issues are fake - By Andy Masley]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/contra-benn-jordan-data-center-andhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/contra-benn-jordan-data-center-andSun, 19 Apr 2026 21:02:46 GMTIn this post Andy Masley takes a close, critical look at popular claims that data centers produce harmful “infrasound,” using the viral videos of Benn Jordan as a case study in how persuasive, high-production misinformation can spread. He unpacks the underlying science, contrasts it with how it’s presented online, and argues that while noise pollution is real, the more extreme infrasound claims don’t hold up to scrutiny, offering both a technical and sociological lens on how these ideas gain traction.

  • 00:00:00 - Introduction

  • 00:00:36 - Intro

  • 00:04:48 - What is infrasound?

  • 00:16:14 - What the science says about infrasound harms

  • 00:16:17 - The history of infrasound science

  • 00:21:48 - The consensus

  • 00:23:03 - Benn Jordan’s infrasound videos are a complete disaster

  • 00:24:22 - First video - Infrasound: What You Can’t Hear CAN Hurt You

  • 00:24:51 - 0:00 to 1:40 - Intro

  • 00:46:18 - 1:40 to 3:48 - Philosophy of time

  • 00:47:51 - 3:48 to 4:34 - UV and infrasound

  • 00:51:24 - 4:50 to 5:21 - The symptom list

  • 01:01:33 - 5:21 to 5:51 - The heart-contraction study

  • 01:09:41 - 5:51 to 6:37 - ‘It’s hard to study’

  • 01:19:06 - 6:52 to 8:10 - The Vic Tandy ghost story

  • 01:26:31 - 8:10 to 10:09 - Backyard recording

  • 01:28:52 - 10:25 to 12:00 - The South Dakota detour

  • 01:32:13 - 12:08 to 14:32 - The Yellowstone segment

  • 01:32:37 - 14:24 to 14:49 - The inescapability frame

  • 01:34:45 - 14:49 to 18:00 - The physics detour and SpaceX launch

  • 01:36:38 - 17:18 to 18:00 - Helmholtz resonance

  • 01:37:22 - 18:00 to 18:56 - The Liverpool Cathedral study

  • 01:39:56 - 18:56 to 20:16 - The Goldsmiths Haunt Project

  • 01:43:23 - 20:16 to End - The gear section

  • 01:43:49 - Conclusion

  • 01:48:41 - Second video - Datacenters Behaving Like Acoustic Weapons

  • 01:49:35 - 0:00 to 1:29 - Intro

  • 01:53:41 - 2:24 to 3:22 - The symptom list, round two

  • 01:56:53 - 4:06 to 9:10 - xAI’s Colossus

  • 02:01:55 - 9:10 to 15:18 - MARA slash Granbury

  • 02:08:58 - 15:18 to 17:58 - The Permian Basin

  • 02:11:45 - 17:58 to 23:15 - The experiment

  • 02:12:07 - Problem 1: The “haunted painting” priming

  • 02:13:25 - Problem 2: He isn’t blind

  • 02:14:15 - Problem 3: The stimulus itself

  • 02:15:32 - Problem 4: The self-selection filter

  • 02:16:47 - Problem 5: The effect sizes are tiny and the framing is misleading

  • 02:19:33 - Problem 6: Multiple comparisons

  • 02:20:31 - What the experiment actually shows

  • 02:21:07 - 23:15 to 25:43 - YouTube data vs research data

  • 02:23:09 - 25:43 to end - The call to action

  • 02:25:26 - Conclusion

  • 02:26:35 - There’s a lot of social permission to treat data centers as boogeymen right now

Andy Masley
Contra Benn Jordan, data center (and all) sub-audible infrasound issues are fake
Note: addressing all the false claims in Benn Jordan’s videos was such a huge undertaking that I need to plan out separate time to assemble and cite all my sources. I’ll add them all soon, in the meantime everything I say here will stand up to scrutiny if you search it…
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2 hours ago · 42 likes · 7 comments · Andy Masley

https://open.substack.com/pub/andymasley/p/contra-benn-jordan-data-center-and?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Mass-In-Mass-Out explains mother belly without 'pregnancy' - By Eliezer Yudkowsky.]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/mass-in-mass-out-explains-motherhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/mass-in-mass-out-explains-motherWed, 15 Apr 2026 19:43:04 GMTIn this post Eliezer Yudkowsky writes a satirical news article in which physicists "disprove" pregnancy by showing that women's weight gain during gestation is fully explained by increased eating and drinking, a mass-in-mass-out (MIMO) balance, and therefore no underlying biological phenomenon need exist. The piece is a sustained analogy to the Calories In, Calories Out (CICO) framing of obesity: by substituting pregnancy for fat gain, Yudkowsky exposes how a thermodynamically true but causally vacuous accounting identity can be used to deny the existence of the underlying biological drivers (hormones, appetite regulation, metabolic adaptation) that actually determine the outcome, and how "it's just voluntary overconsumption" is a non-explanation masquerading as a complete one.

https://x.com/allTheYud/status/2044220552735535545?s=20

]]><![CDATA[What will be scarce? - By Alex Imas]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/what-will-be-scarce-by-alex-imashttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/what-will-be-scarce-by-alex-imasWed, 15 Apr 2026 09:19:27 GMTIn this post Alex Imas asks what becomes scarce when AI can automate most production. Drawing on the economics of structural change, mimetic desire theory from René Girard, and consumer expenditure data, he argues that cheap commodity production won't eliminate jobs, it will redirect spending and employment toward a "relational sector" where the human element is itself part of the value. The post builds a formal economic framework for this claim and connects it to his earlier work on whether AI could cause negative economic growth.

Ghosts of Electricity
What will be scarce?
Starbucks is a huge company (market cap of $112 billion) that sells one of the most standardized products in the modern economy. Making a cup of coffee or even one of the fancy specialty drinks is very easy to mechanize and reproduce. If the entire economy is soon to be automated, with labor being replaced with increasingly more sophisticated capital, S…
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5 days ago · 99 likes · 32 comments · Alex Imas

https://open.substack.com/pub/aleximas/p/what-will-be-scarce?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Only Law Can Prevent Extinction - By Eliezer Yudkowsky]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/only-law-can-prevent-extinction-byhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/only-law-can-prevent-extinction-byMon, 13 Apr 2026 15:50:12 GMTIn this post Eliezer Yudkowsky argues that the existential risk posed by artificial superintelligence cannot be mitigated by individual action, corporate self-regulation, or localised prohibitions, but only by coordinated international law — specifically, a global treaty restricting the specialised hardware used to train and run frontier AI systems — and he systematically dismantles the notion that extralegal or violent resistance would be effective, on the grounds that shutting down any single company, researcher, or national datacenter does nothing to change the overall trajectory, while simultaneously making the case that lawful, predictable, avoidable state force is a categorically different thing from the chaotic violence some critics conflate it with.

https://x.com/ESYudkowsky/status/2043601524815716866

]]><![CDATA[Tension - By Max Harms]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/tension-by-max-harmshttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/tension-by-max-harmsTue, 07 Apr 2026 14:20:11 GMTIn this article Max explores the craft of writing through the lens of tension, arguing that the ability to create, sustain, and release anticipation is one of the most powerful tools a writer has for keeping readers engaged, while also emphasizing that tension alone is not enough without underlying quality. Using a mix of examples from film, television, nonfiction, and classic literature, he examines how effective storytelling balances setup and payoff, builds empathy, and carefully controls the reader’s curiosity, while also showing that even works which seem to “break the rules” often do so deliberately in service of a broader artistic goal.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 07:07 - Tension Done Well

  • 15:06 - Tension in Nonfiction

  • 16:57 - Chesterton’s Fence

Max Harms Books
Tension
This is the essay version of a talk I gave as part of being a writing mentor at Inkhaven. Please forgive me for writing about writing. The Red Heart audiobook is done, and stuck in the forever-limbo of being reviewed by the hosting platforms…
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15 days ago · 4 likes · Max Harms

https://open.substack.com/pub/raelifin/p/tension?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[The Scary Bridge - by Moridinamael]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-scary-bridge-by-moridinamaelhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-scary-bridge-by-moridinamaelTue, 31 Mar 2026 11:14:22 GMTThe Scary Bridge - by Moridinamael

In this post Moridinamael uses a short allegorical scene, a town hall debate about a dangerous bridge, to illustrate how technical arguments about real, mechanistic risks get flattened into emotional narratives by both allies and opponents, and how onlookers end up judging the validity of claims based on the perceived confidence and composure of the speakers rather than the substance of what they're actually saying.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jbPgRMiEqnJbwtsim/the-scary-bridge

]]><![CDATA[Consider chilling out in 2028 - by Valentine]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/consider-chilling-out-in-2028-byhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/consider-chilling-out-in-2028-byTue, 31 Mar 2026 11:01:13 GMTConsider chilling out in 2028 - by Valentine.

In this post Valentine argues that if the AI risk landscape in early 2028 looks functionally the same as it does today, perpetually escalating alarm without correspondingly escalating real-world evidence of doom, the rationalist community should treat that as a serious signal to pause, reconsider its decades-long strategy of frightening people into action, and explore whether unexamined psychological and emotional dynamics might be distorting collective threat perception more than anyone currently appreciates.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 02:22 - Inner cries for help

  • 08:59 - Scaring people

  • 12:13 - A shared positive vision

  • 18:14 - Maybe it’ll be okay

  • 22:06 - Come 2028…

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/D4eZF6FAZhrW4KaGG/consider-chilling-out-in-2028

]]><![CDATA[Against the Luddites - By SE Gyges]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/against-the-luddites-by-se-gygeshttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/against-the-luddites-by-se-gygesTue, 31 Mar 2026 08:39:07 GMTAgainst the Luddites - By SE Gyges

In this post, SE Gyges argues that the contemporary rehabilitation of the Luddites as thoughtful technology critics is historically dishonest. Drawing on labor history, Marx and Engels, and modern post-capitalist thinkers, the piece makes the case that Luddism was a reactionary defense of guild privilege and male craft monopoly, not a progressive workers' movement, and that better intellectual traditions exist for anyone serious about the politics of automation.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 01:28 - An Elite Movement

  • 03:05 - The Exclusion of Women

  • 06:01 - Marx and Engels Saw Through It

  • 09:01 - Restoration, Never Revolution

  • 11:57 - Conclusion

Very Sane AI Newsletter
Against the Luddites
Luddism does not deserve to be rehabilitated. It was a medieval throwback, reactionary and primitive, a pre-Marxist labor convulsion closer in spirit to the Khmer Rouge’s fantasies of agrarian restoration than to the universalist solidarity of Eugene Debs. The contemporary effort to recast the Luddites as thoughtful critics of technology gives modern an…
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19 days ago · 58 likes · 15 comments · SE Gyges

https://open.substack.com/pub/verysane/p/against-the-luddites?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[dark ilan - By Ozy Brennan]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/dark-ilan-by-ozy-brennanhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/dark-ilan-by-ozy-brennanSun, 29 Mar 2026 08:22:52 GMTdark ilan - By Ozy Brennan

Ozy’s Fiction
dark ilan
The second time Vellam uncovers the conspiracy underlying all of society, he approaches a Keeper…
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22 days ago · 37 likes · 4 comments · Ozy Brennan

https://open.substack.com/pub/ozybrennan/p/dark-ilan?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Every ACX House Party - By Corvin]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/every-acx-house-party-by-corvinhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/every-acx-house-party-by-corvinThu, 26 Mar 2026 12:14:38 GMTThis post by Corvin is a pastiche of the ACX Bay Area House Party Series.

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Corvin
Every ACX House Party
The following is a fictionalized account of the ACX/LW weekend that happened 20th-22nd of March 2026. It’s assembled from different stories and reports from participants, taking their perspectives and shaping it all into the style and voice of the Bay Area House Party Series…
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25 days ago · 14 likes · Corvin

https://open.substack.com/pub/ravenstales/p/every-acx-house-party?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Every Debate On Pausing AI - By Scott Alexander]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/every-debate-on-pausing-ai-by-scotthttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/every-debate-on-pausing-ai-by-scottThu, 26 Mar 2026 05:39:48 GMTEvery Debate On Pausing AI - By Scott Alexander

Astral Codex Ten
Every Debate On Pausing AI
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24 days ago · 279 likes · 549 comments · Scott Alexander

https://open.substack.com/pub/astralcodexten/p/every-debate-on-pausing-ai?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Being John Rawls - By Scott Alexander]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/being-john-rawls-by-scott-alexanderhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/being-john-rawls-by-scott-alexanderMon, 23 Mar 2026 20:39:56 GMT“Full Cast” AI reading of Being John Rawls - By Scott Alexander.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 03:23 - II

  • 11:27 - III

  • 20:21 - IV

  • 25:00 - V

  • 31:17 - VI

Astral Codex Ten
Being John Rawls
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a month ago · 1158 likes · 604 comments · Scott Alexander

https://open.substack.com/pub/astralcodexten/p/being-john-rawls?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Polly Wants a Better Argument, By SE Gyges]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/polly-wants-a-better-argument-byhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/polly-wants-a-better-argument-byMon, 16 Mar 2026 21:15:05 GMTIn this article, SE Gyges argues that the widely cited “stochastic parrots” critique of large language models is not only outdated but actively harmful to serious discussion of AI. The piece examines how the argument misunderstands modern AI systems, ignores advances like multimodal training and reinforcement learning, and rests on a narrow definition of “meaning.” By walking through both empirical evidence and conceptual flaws in the original claim, Gyges contends that dismissing LLMs as mere parrots prevents society from grappling with the real ethical and political challenges posed by systems that demonstrably do work.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 02:31 - Even If True, The Argument Is Irrelevant

  • 03:32 - The Argument Doesn’t Apply to Any Major Model Since 2023

  • 06:45 - The Argument Was Already Obsolete When Published

  • 08:05 - The Argument Is Empirically False

  • 08:19 - The Octopus Test

  • 12:05 - The Platonic Representation Hypothesis

  • 13:24 - Form Carries Meaning

  • 15:48 - The Argument Is Badly Constructed

  • 16:07 - Parrots Are Amazing, Actually

  • 16:56 - The Definition of Meaning Is Circular

  • 19:28 - Conclusion

Very Sane AI Newsletter
Polly Wants a Better Argument
Perhaps the most influential single paper on the public perception of LLMs is On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?. It is, however, a bit of a mash-up, and credibly seems like it should have been at least two papers. One of those papers raises many valid concerns about the ethical implications and impacts of AI training …
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a month ago · 39 likes · 1 comment · SE Gyges

https://open.substack.com/pub/verysane/p/polly-wants-a-better-argument?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Why ATMs didn’t kill bank teller jobs, but the iPhone did - By David Oks]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/why-atms-didnt-kill-bank-teller-jobshttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/why-atms-didnt-kill-bank-teller-jobsFri, 13 Mar 2026 07:09:19 GMTIn this article David Oks takes a familiar story about technology and jobs, the idea that ATMs automated banking without destroying teller work, and turns it on its head, arguing that the real disruption came later from the smartphone era. Using the history of bank branches, bank tellers, and mobile banking, he explores a broader point about technological change: that the biggest effects often come not when a new tool replaces part of a job, but when it creates an entirely new way of doing things that makes the old role far less necessary.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 07:17 - ATMs didn’t kill bank teller jobs

  • 20:32 - But iPhones actually did

  • 26:25 - Automating a job is much harder than making it irrelevant

David Oks
Why ATMs didn’t kill bank teller jobs, but the iPhone did
A few months ago, J. D. Vance, sitting vice president of the United States, gave an interview to Ross Douthat of the New York Times. During that interview, Vance and Douthat had an interesting exchange…
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a month ago · 623 likes · 47 comments · David Oks

https://open.substack.com/pub/davidoks/p/why-the-atm-didnt-kill-bank-teller?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[The Elect - By Tomás Bjartur]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-elect-by-tomas-bjarturhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-elect-by-tomas-bjarturFri, 06 Mar 2026 14:29:54 GMTA short story by Tomás Bjartur

Tomás Bjartur
The Elect
I was different in Michael’s prison than I was outside, looking the way I did when we fell in love so long ago, in that time before we could change our forms. Stuck in some body that was not of my choosing? Does that seem strange to you? It was not like that for me. It is just how things were for most of history, and few imagined this changing. So I fel…
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a month ago · 21 likes · 7 comments · Tomás Bjartur

https://open.substack.com/pub/tomasbjartur/p/the-elect?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[Clawed - By Dean W. Ball]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/clawed-by-dean-w-ballhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/clawed-by-dean-w-ballMon, 02 Mar 2026 16:37:16 GMTIn this post Dean W. Ball explores the gradual nature of life and death, drawing a poignant parallel between the passing of his father and the ongoing decline of the American republic. Using a recent policy skirmish between the AI firm Anthropic and the U.S. Department of War over the military deployment of the Claude AI system as a focal point, he examines the shifting dynamics of government power and private enterprise. Ultimately, he invites readers to look beyond traditional partisan divides and carefully consider how the control of frontier AI will shape the future of human liberty.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 00:05 - One

  • 02:22 - Two

  • 04:52 - Three

  • 06:52 - Four

  • 18:19 - Five

Hyperdimensional
Clawed
I. A little more than a decade ago, I sat with my father and watched him die. Six months prior, he had been a vigorous man, stronger than I am today, faster and more resilient on a bike than most 20-somethings. Then one day he got heart surgery and he was never the same. His soul had been sucked out of him, the life gone from his eyes. He had moments of …
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2 months ago · 186 likes · 3 comments · Dean W. Ball

https://open.substack.com/pub/hyperdimensional/p/clawed?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA["All Lawful Use": Much More Than You Wanted To Know - By Scott Alexander]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/all-lawful-use-much-more-than-youhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/all-lawful-use-much-more-than-youSun, 01 Mar 2026 20:59:51 GMTIn this post, Scott Alexander examines the legal and contractual implications of the Department of War's "all lawful use" demand for AI systems, breaking down what US law actually permits regarding mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons, and why the phrase "lawful use" provides far less protection than most people assume.

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  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 02:42 - Mass domestic surveillance: more than you wanted to know

  • 08:59 - Autonomous weapons: more than you wanted to know

  • 13:21 - Comments on OpenAI’s FAQ

  • 17:51 - Questions that you should be asking

Astral Codex Ten
"All Lawful Use": Much More Than You Wanted To Know
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2 months ago · 109 likes · 48 comments · Scott Alexander

https://open.substack.com/pub/astralcodexten/p/all-lawful-use-much-more-than-you?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-2028-global-intelligence-crisishttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-2028-global-intelligence-crisisTue, 24 Feb 2026 08:42:44 GMTIn this essay, Citrini and Alap Shah construct a fictional macro memo written from the perspective of June 2028, using the format of financial retrospective analysis to explore a single underexamined scenario: what happens when AI adoption succeeds beyond all expectations, and that success becomes the source of catastrophic economic disruption. The piece traces how accelerating AI capability interacts with the structures of the white-collar labour market, corporate spending, consumer demand, credit markets, and government fiscal policy — identifying the feedback loops that connect each layer into a single, self-reinforcing system. The authors are explicit that this is a thought exercise rather than a forecast, and the essay closes by returning the reader to February 2026, framing the scenario as a risk to model and prepare for rather than a fate already in motion.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 00:56 - Macro Memo

  • 00:57 - The Consequences of Abundant Intelligence

  • 05:33 - How It Started

  • 10:18 - When Friction Went to Zero

  • 19:17 - From Sector Risk to Systemic Risk

  • 27:47 - The Intelligence Displacement Spiral

  • 32:45 - The Daisy Chain of Correlated Bets

  • 47:34 - The Battle Against Time

  • 54:12 - The Intelligence Premium Unwind

  • 56:43 - Acknowledgements

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Citrini Research
THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS
Preface…
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2 months ago · 2966 likes · 78 comments · Citrini and Alap Shah

https://open.substack.com/pub/citrini/p/2028gic?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[The left is missing out on AI - By Dan Kagan-Kans]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-left-is-missing-out-on-ai-byhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/the-left-is-missing-out-on-ai-byTue, 17 Feb 2026 09:26:11 GMTIn this essay, Dan Kagan-Kans argues that the political left has largely refused to engage seriously with artificial intelligence, instead settling on a dismissive consensus that treats it as little more than "spicy autocomplete." Drawing on voices from left-wing publications, podcasts, academics, and politicians, he traces how this attitude took hold, examines the understandable reasons for skepticism alongside the costs of letting skepticism harden into denial, and makes the case that by ceding the AI conversation to the right, the left risks being unprepared for, and unable to shape, one of the most consequential technological shifts in history.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 00:16 - Abdication

  • 02:31 - The new consensus

  • 10:55 - The con

  • 13:57 - Reasons to be skeptical

  • 16:52 - Academia

  • 21:45 - Exceptions and the right

  • 25:39 - Costs and missed opportunities

Transformer
The left is missing out on AI
Abdication…
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2 months ago · 77 likes · 16 comments · Dan Kagan-Kans

https://open.substack.com/pub/transformernews/p/the-left-is-missing-out-on-ai-sanders-doctorow-bender-bores?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

]]><![CDATA[When "technically true" becomes "actually misleading" - By Kelsey Piper]]>https://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/when-technically-true-becomes-actuallyhttps://askwhocastsai.substack.com/p/when-technically-true-becomes-actuallyFri, 13 Feb 2026 12:09:01 GMTIn this article, Kelsey Piper tackles a persistent claim that keeps circulating in prestigious publications: that AI language models are "just" next-word predictors, stochastic parrots, or "spicy autocomplete." She argues this framing — while containing a kernel of truth about one stage of how models are trained — has become a form of "highbrow misinformation" that leaves the public less equipped to understand what AI actually is and what it can do today. Drawing on hands-on demonstrations and a useful concept borrowed from climate discourse, Piper makes the case that it's time to retire this particular talking point, regardless of where you land on the broader questions about AI's impact.

  • 00:00 - Introduction

  • 03:53 - How language models work

  • 12:36 - It’s 2026, and AIs can do complex tasks independently

The Argument
When "technically true" becomes "actually misleading"
Last June, The Atlantic’s Tyler Austin Harper argued that AI is a con, that large language models “do not, cannot, and will not ‘understand’ anything at all. They are not emotionally intelligent or smart in any meaningful or recognizably human sense of the word…
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2 months ago · 18 likes · 4 comments · Kelsey Piper

https://open.substack.com/pub/theargument/p/when-technically-true-becomes-actually?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

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