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Calling AI things by what they are #ai #language

This newsletter: How to talk about "AI" without adding to the anthropomorphization caught my eye on the fediverse today.

It makes a sound argument for calling all things AI by what they are, instead of the - in the beginning cutesy - anthropomorphised terms that seem to have settled in.

It is fun, word-wise, to pretend that computers and programs are people, but at some point it can start to impair perception.

I will try to see if I can start using non-anthropomorphic terms in the future - it might take some getting used to, but so did prefixing all Microsoft products and companies with "Microsoft". If you are using Microsoft GitHub for code or using Microsoft npm when assembling Javascript libraries, you now what I mean.

It will take some typing to replace "agent" with "probabilistic, unverified software manipulator", but maybe we can get the abbreviation "PUSM" going?

The only thing that didn't ring quite true in my ears was term "synthetic text extruding machines", not that I disagree with the description, but to me "extruding" sounds derogatory - perhaps "generating" is more neutrally describing word.

Worth a read and giving some thoughts.