The media & perceptions of AI

Headlines – and information – are rarely objective and can be subtly slanted in one direction or the other, depending on narrator stance. It is therefore important to ask: Who is telling this story and why? 

Consider utopia vs apocalypse – popular narratives adopted around AI often go one way or the other.

Image generated by ChatGPT

TASK: Here are some media articles on AI from different online sites. Consider how these individual headlines make you feel as you read them?

1. Shifting The AI Narrative: From Doomsday Fears To Pragmatic Solutions – [Mark Minevich for Forbes, 2024].

• This first title, for example, is critical of the doomsday narrative around AI, promoting pragmatic solutions.

2. World has no ‘strong protection against dangers of AI’ – [Matthew Field & Joe Pinkstone for The Telegraph, 2024]

• This piece takes a broadly pessimistic stance on AI, framing it as a danger that we must protect ourselves against. These sorts of dramatic headlines perpetuate fear in conversations around AI.

3. Robot takeover? Not quite. Here’s what AI doomsday would look like – [Kari Paul for The Guardian, 2023]

• A more pragmatic title that offers discretion on what ‘AI doomsday’ means. It mentions the negative narrative of a ‘robot takeover’ but comforts readers with ‘not quite’, adding an element of realism.

4. How close is AI to human-level intelligence? – [Anil Ananthaswamy for nature, 2024]

• This title adopts an uneasy tone by directly comparing AI with humans, implying that AI may eventually have human-level intelligence. However, the headline is questioning, and therefore reflective.

It is easy to influence popular perceptions of AI, via global media portrayals. Media narratives make all the difference in how a story is told. The entire concept of existential threat and the end of humanity becomes much more significant and threatening in the public consciousness, due to media portrayal. 

Certain media narratives employ an entirely fearful and pessimistic view of AI, adopting a cinematic, superhero-movie-like plot in which AI is the enemy, and humans are the eventual, inevitable victims.

Image from The Terminator, 1984 

Think of popular culture tropes around AI, like The Terminator – it’s a classic “AI gone rogue” scenario, no positive outcomes for humanity, just cold machine logic with deadly consequences.

TASK: In the comments, make a note of other films that cover AI and how these technologies are portrayed. What narrative do they employ and with what impact?