Like many technologies, AI systems are a blessing and a curse. Variants of AI have improved the quality of life for many people, but at the same time, some types of AI have facilitated discrimination, violence, and authoritarian governance. Moreover, AI developers often design, develop, and deploy AI in an opaque and unaccountable manner. Not surprisingly, many people find AI frightening, wondrous, confusing, and hard to define.

Arvind Narayan and Sayash Kapoor of Princeton University have written a new book, AI Snake Oil, that wrestles with this technology. The book explains the differences between types of AI, why organizations are falling for AI snake oil, why AI isn’t an existential risk, and why we should be far more worried about what people will do with AI than about anything AI will do on its own.

Tom Goldstein will interview Sayash for 25 minutes and then we open the discussion to the audience for questions and comments.