Men Can’t Stop Faking How Much They Know About AI
More than half of the men surveyed in a new Harvard study claimed to recognize AI leaders who were, in fact, totally fictional.
A recent survey of over 5,400 Americans revealed that 73% of male respondents claimed to know who Altman was, while 53% knew of Murati, Milner, and Dalton. However, there's a discrepancy: Murati is a real person, the CEO of Thinking Machine Labs, while Milner and Dalton are fictional. This overconfidence isn't exclusive to men, but women were less likely to claim knowledge of the fictional executives, with only 38% recognizing Murati.
Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center executive director, Laura Manley, observed that men are more optimistic and confident about AI. This overconfidence can sometimes manifest in claiming to recognize nonexistent AI executives. The study also found that men use AI more frequently and are better at answering factual AI questions.
However, both men and women had similar incorrect answer rates. Moreover, men were named in AI-related headlines about 14 times more often than women, despite women being underrepresented in the actual AI talent pool. Manley suggests that there should be more women prominently featured as experts to provide alternative viewpoints.
While both genders expressed concern about AI, women were more fearful and worried. Conversely, men rated positive feelings like curiosity and enthusiasm higher than women. Manley notes that the prevailing discourse is dominated by confident predictions of either doom or abundance, often overshadowing voices that express uncertainty.
Written by urgent.news from Wired's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
