Should you trust “the experts” about AI?

Hi dear readers and friends,

Welcome to the Human Override. Twice a month, I share short reflections about AI and society, ending with the “Human Override” (a way to preserve humanity when everything turns synthetic).

New readers highlight: Haygun, AI Specialist | Michael, CTO | Marco, Creative Leader | +64 anonymous legends! Welcome!

STORY

I’ll start with an uncomfortable self-reflection. I spent years collecting degrees and building expertise across physics, statistics, actuarial science, business and computer science. And the more I learned, the worse I got at admitting what I didn’t know.

That’s the paradox of expertise—the very thing that makes you credible also makes you blind.

47% of AI experts say they’re more excited than concerned about AI in daily life. Only 11% of the public feels the same (data from Pew Research). 

Who’s right? Maybe neither. Or both. Perhaps experts are just really bad at sharing their enthusiasm with the public!

Too many experts I know in AI repost everything Sam Altman, Dario Amodei or Elon Musk says. They get excited when a billionaire CEO drops a vision of the future. Or they cite academics, “godfathers of AI”, like scripture.

But these same experts have apparent conflicts of interest (e.g., research grants to protect, companies to promote, products to sell). There’s massive self-serving interest baked into their narrative. If (when) the house of cards falls, they can’t easily pivot to other work, and “everyone’s got a mortgage to pay” (cit. Thank you for smoking—watch that movie if you haven’t!).

So here’s my confession: I’m nobody special. I don’t run a billion-dollar company. I’m not trying to stay quotable for Wired or keep investors calm. I’ve been an entrepreneur, raised capital, shipped products—but I’ve also taught, debugged, and watched AI evolve from multiple continents and cultures.

I’m a nobody with a newsletter, which might be precisely why you should listen. I have no conflict of interest. 

THE HUMAN OVERRIDE

The paradox of expertise happens when…

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