Technologists have been doing it. Jamie Dimon just did it in his latest letter to shareholders. I’m referring to the way people are comparing the transformational impact of artificial intelligence to that of the steam engine. The metaphor has not only become a cliché; it paints an oversimplified and too-rosy picture of how this technology will reshape our lives.
To be fair to Dimon, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, his examples were drawn from a wider net: “Think the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, computing and the internet, among others,” he wrote. But the effects of perfecting steam power pale in comparison with the changes that the next technological development will bring.
