Talking the AI Talk
Corporate America is leaning into the most promising trend in tech. This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. AI was not always the hottest thing in tech. Now corporate America is leaning into its use of the term. Trendy Language AI, or at least talk of it, is everywhere. That includes some unexpected corners of corporate America. In recent months, companies have become eager to frame their projectseven those that dont necessarily involve generative AIas somehow involving the buzzy technology. More and more companies are bringing up AI in quarterly reports. The Financial Times reported that almost 40 percent of S&P 500 companies talked about AI or related terms in earnings calls last quarterthough just 16 percent mentioned it in regulatory filings, suggesting that the technology hasnt yet had material effects on many of the businesses. Some of the companies touting AI are not the usual suspects: Cruise-ship operators and several fast-food chains are among those claiming to be harnessing the power of AI. It is not shocking that companies would be excited to join in on the most promising trend in tech during a bruising period for the industry. Hundreds of thousands of tech workers have been laid off already this year. Everyone is always mad about the state of social-media sites. High interest rates are puncturing the good times. But the public seems pretty interested in AI, and venture-capital investors are pouring money into AI projects. Most AI speak could well be harmless, but regulators are urging the public to stay mindful of cases where bad actors are shrouding fraud in trendy language. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission published a blog post warning that some tech companies may be using the terminology du jour in order to conceal old-school deceptionin other words, duping clients and customers by overstating their capabilities. The FTC post has quite a catchy headline: For Business Opportunity Sellers, FTC Says AI Stands for Allegedly Inaccurate. Michael Atleson, an attorney in the FTCs division of advertising practices, told me in an email that the AI sectors popularity is a big reason that the agency is keeping a close eye on it; when companies lie or exaggerate about AI when selling a consumer product or service, people may be paying for something that doesnt work as advertised, he told me, adding that such misconduct also hurts honest competitors. Rumman Chowdhury, an AI ethics researcher and fellow at Harvards Berkman Klein Center, told me in an email that companies using AI for its own sake might risk alienating consumers. Such companies need to be careful in separating the current flashy tech toy from meaningful and useful products for their customers, she wrote. Though AI is not totally new, it is having its biggest moment yet. A monster earnings report from Nvidia, a chip maker that makes the GPUs undergirding some of the biggest AI tools, last week signaled to many analysts that the industry will keep going strong, at least for a while, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia, after facing runaway demand from tech companies that power AI tools using its chips, expects to increase the availability of its chips over the next several quarters. (The demand was so great that it spawned a song: Erin Griffith reported for The New York Times that an artist named Weird A.I. Yankochip released a parody of We Didnt Start the Fire about a shortage). If the supply of chips is strong, then start-ups can compute, and the industry, theoretically, can grow and grow. Nvidias revenues nearly doubled in the first half of its fiscal year; the company is the best performer in the S&P 500 in 2023 so far. The eagerness to jump on a bandwagon is hardly new for Silicon Valley: Just in the past few years, companies have pivoted to Web3, crypto, and the metaverse, following VC money and hype. Some of those hype cycles proved exaggerated. Crypto was money without utility, Derek Thompson, who covers business for The Atlantic , said earlier this year. Meanwhile, tools such as ChatGPT, he said, are, for now, utility without money. For AI, the money has started to pour in. As long as its utility holds steady, companies will likely keep running toward its glow. Related: Todays News Evening Read What Adults Forget About Friendship By Rhaina Cohen Rachel Simmons was raised Catholic and later joined a Presbyterian church, but she told me the closest thing shes ever had to true religion came from a childhood friendship. When she was in middle school, she and two other kids, Margo Darragh and Sam Lodge, formed RMSa name combining each of their first initialsthat elevated their friend group to a sacred entity. As they approached high school, the girls would sneak out of their rural Pennsylvania homes at night and one would drive the rest on a four-wheeler into a forest on Lodges neighbors property. Inspired by Warriors , an adventure-book series, the girls divided the forest into four territories, and each girl ruled over one. The shared area in the middle, featuring a creek with large moss-covered rocks, became their ceremonial site. Theyd chant, Leaders of Star Clan, we come to these rocks, to drink, share tongues, and faithfully talk. Theyd divulge their feelings, meditate in silence, and drink a palmful of the creek water. These ceremonies were just one part of the elaborate set of practices that RMS developed during middle and high school. Others included three-day sleepovers and a secret code language. The three friends essentially created their own culture and, with it, a profound bond. Read the full article. More From The Atlantic Culture Break Read. Six new pieces of flash fiction on the subject of desire, from Kiese Laymon, Eileen Myles, and others. Watch. Stars on Mars (streaming on Hulu; the season finale airs tonight on Fox), which follows celebrities solving made-up problems in space, might be the most realistic reality show around. Play our daily crossword. P.S. Nvidia is booming, and its chief executive, Jensen Huang, is leading it while rocking his signature swag: a black leather jacket. Tech leaders, most notably Steve Jobs with his Issey Miyake turtlenecks (and most infamously, Elizabeth Holmes and her spin on that look), have previously worn signature wardrobes. But this one feels different. As Vanessa Friedman writes in an interesting New York Times profile of the jacket, It is the opposite of what we think of when we think of a tech nerd, which is why the fact that Mr. Huang chose it as his uniform was so smart. It stands out. It causes a reassessment. Lora Isabel Fattal contributed to this newsletter. When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic .