Ed Zitron: One of Big Tech’s angriest critics explains the problem—and solution—of A.I.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Alex Kirshner: I don’t like to ask questions about “the media,” because we are not a monolith—but I wonder what the most frequent bad practices are that you see in coverage of A.I. These reporters understand what they’re talking about, but they don’t go to the next step to say, “Is this actually important?” “Our lives aren’t really being changed, other than our power grids being strained, our things being stolen, and some jobs being replaced.” But I think that the biggest thing is that it feels like we’re living in this insane cognitive dissonance. Show me the thing that you’re like, “Goddamn, I’m glad this is here.” I can’t think of one, and I’m exactly the little pig that would want it. If the immediate thing you do when you think “Maybe I’m missing something” is to say, “Well, I best trust what the tech company is saying,” you’re failing your readers.