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Cory Doctorow: The people who tell you ‘AI is changing everything’ are lying
(www.thenerve.news)
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this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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So it doesn’t actually mean anything.
Like most things, meaning depends on context. In the most common context of “news about AI” we’re talking about generative AI: image/video generators, LLMs, and to a lesser degree coding assistants. If you want to know more about what these technologies share in common, look up what a “perceptron” is and how it works.
More generally AI could mean anything from a neural network based approach to problem solving, to a completely deterministic, hand coded heuristic. A pure decision tree could be AI in the case of video game NPCs, for example.
So it’s a new synonym for algorithm.
Not quite. Algorithms are definite, you get the same guaranteed output if you give the same input every time. AI is generally more fuzzy logic.
If it can run on a computer, its an algorithm. Definitionally.
Great, Linux is an algorithm.
It might be accurate, but it's also vague enough that it's a pretty useless definition.
I mean, yes. Linux is an algorithm. The programmes called AI are also still algorithms - they're still deterministic, just too much of a tangled mess, too complex, for a anyone too realistically break it down step by step.
There are some math problems that cannot be described algorithmically, but because of that they're also non computable. Uh, some thermodynamics and quantum stuff from what I've heard.
That’s my point.
I’d say it’s more like a way to describe a certain kind of algorithm. One that adapts in some way to inputs that defy simple classification. Ultimately you’re probably just safe to replace AI in modern news and internet discussion with LLM or CNN.
I agree with that, but others don’t. And that’s the problem. It’s not a fixed definition. It’s marketing.
The utility of the term “AI” depends on what you’re trying to communicate.