Those Olympic AI ads feel bad for a reason

Much like crypto, the AI tools peddled by tech companies today are environmental disasters, using up as much energy as an entire country. That’s expected to double by 2026, and it also includes the millions of gallons of water needed to cool the equipment.

Marketing tactics that boast about AI’s ability to render meaningful activities — like, say, painting, or writing a letter with your daughter — worth little more than a single button-click come across as deeply tone-deaf to a population who is already anxious about the future of the technology. According to a 2023 Pew survey, 52 percent of American... See more

Fortune notes that the IOC found 180 use cases for AI at the Olympics, but they largely seemed “like nothing more than marketing gimmicks.”

instead end up showing how AI will be used for the things that most of us don’t want it to interfere with: our job prospects, our privacy, and experiences and skills that feel uniquely human.