What, if anything, is AI?

In case you haven't come across it yet, the text "What, if anything, is a zebra?" nicely portrays how some things that seem to be "one thing" are in fact different, and sometimes surprisingly unrelated, things at once (striped horses formed from two different evolutionary strands, so there is not one "zebra" species [1]).

I was reminded of this when the discussion about "AI is a horse" came up again. The horse metaphor is great, because it – besides more 'horsepowers' under the hood - has its own will.

But if I had to pick one metaphor that feels right, it would be the car. Not for automation alone, but because of systemic impact: cars reshaped cities, labor, health, social life, inequality, and people's understanding of "freedom". Once cars were everywhere, opting out became difficult.

At the same time, the car metaphor breaks quickly. AI affects many areas of life at once, often with conflicting tradeoffs.

- Smoother relationships vs. authenticity and vulnerability (AI-mediated communication, companions)

- Automation of cognitive work vs. meaning and self-efficacy

- Infinite, pre-processed knowledge vs. mental obesity

- New freedom vs. responsibility for what we choose not to automate

(This is also the rough outline of a TEDx talk I gave last year — back then I called it "AI – A Car for the Mind?" [3]. I’m very glad I put the question mark in.)

How do you explain AI to those who ask, if they need a simple answer?

[1] https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/SJ-Gould-What-if-anything-is-a-zebra.pdf

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686402

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IYqhdJuRfU