"We believe that language is a device to increase people’s “AI” literacy, helping them make informed choices about technology acceptance.

A more deliberate and thoughtful way forward is to talk about “AI” systems in terms of what we use systems to do, often specifying input and/or output. That is, talk about functionalities that serve our purposes, rather than “capabilities” of the system. Rather than saying a model is “good at” something (suggesting the model has skills) we can talk about what it is “good for”. Who is using the model to do something, and what are they using it to do?

It takes effort to swim upstream against anthropomorphizing language embedded in commonly-used technical terms and popular discourse, both in recognizing the language at all but also in finding suitable alternatives. Whether we are participating in local discussions making decisions for our workplaces, schools or communities or writing for broad audiences we share a responsibility to create and use empowering metaphors rather than misleading language that embeds the tech companies’ marketing pitches."

https://www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-talk-about-how-we-talk-about-ai/

#AI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #AIHype #Anthropomorphization #AILiteracy