The five Levels of Hype

The tech industry currently stands at a crossroads. At the twilight of social media, adtech, and crypto bull markets (bubbles?), tech workers and consumers are simultaneously exhausted by tech and starving for more. Shiny trends like Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality stand on the sidelines ready to transform latent frustrations into newfang... See more

This paper aims to dissect the phenomenon of AI hype in light of its core mechanisms, drawing comparisons between the current wave and historical episodes of AI hype, concluding that the current hype is historically unmatched in terms of magnitude, scale and planetary and social costs. We identify and discuss socio-technical mechanisms fueling AI h... See more

Hype is a flash in the pan. Narrative network effects are durable, long-lasting, and broadly applicable.

That’s not to say that Hype doesn’t impact public perception of science experiments. AI was famously always “ten years away” and “just linear regressions with a fancy name”... until it wasn’t. But AI’s success didn’t depend on getting a lot of people to use not-yet-good-enough chatbots; it depended on keeping a relatively small number of nerds exci... See more

Speculative frenzies are part of technology, and so they are not something to be afraid of. Those who remain level-headed through this moment have the chance to build extremely important companies. But we need to make sure not to believe in the delusion that has now spread from Silicon Valley to the rest of the country, and indeed the world. That d... See more

There's a Lot of Hype Ar...

This happens with all radical new technologies: before they mature, our expectation of how they’ll work is only half right.