The Secret Name of AI
A technology can't be threatening if it has a cute nickname, right?
If people really like something, they give it a nickname. A car might have a nickname, or a building, a neighborhood, a tool. One thing I’ve noticed is people giving their favorite AI tools nicknames, further anthropomorphizing something that’s creeping eerily close to lifelike anyway.
For example, early in the ChatGPT era, I got tired of saying "ChatGPT" to my wife over and over again in conversations, so we decided to use the codename Pearl. It was easy to remember and not a common enough name that you'd confuse it with a real person (unless you know anyone named Pearl). Over time, as the suite of available AI tools expanded, we started calling the entire collection Pearl and Co.
Need to look a fact up? Ask Pearl. Trying to figure out how to wire the fans in a new PC case? Ask Pearl. Need ideas for a weekend activity? Ask Pearl. It rolls off the tongue better than "Ask ChatGPT."
Some of my work colleagues use a local AI built into a powerful desktop computer, and that AI has been nicknamed AL. It's like an AI that, through a simple typo, became a human-like character. So much so that it's an ongoing in-joke, and I'm sure other workplaces have their own backstories and personalities for AI programs.
The first generation of quasi-AI tools followed this path. Alexa and Siri were characters more than just technologies, and much was made of each of their faux personalities, limitations and all. The human voice connected to each one helped them cross over into the mainstream and gain a foothold on our phones and smart speakers. Both now feel dated compared to newer LLM-based AI tools, but that anthropomorphic connection has kept them from being tossed aside (and useful updates are purportedly coming to each). Microsoft started down that track with Cortana, but even a clever Halo-related character name couldn't help it.
That's in marked contrast to the currently popular AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot. They all have distinctly non-human names, and I wonder if some of the backlash they get is because they weren't introduced as human-like personalities. ChatGPT's newest real-time voice chat will help it cross that uncanny valley, especially if it can make its way into more consumer products than web browsers and standalone phone apps.
Do you have a pet name for a favorite AI tool? Are we just cattle naming the kill chute? Either way, half the product battle is good naming, and the current crop of AI companies haven't done a great job.
The French Connection
Bit of a shock this week to see my former home, Gizmodo, sold to a Swiss/French digital publisher named Keleops. I don't know anything about the new owners, but they've already earned some points in my book by agreeing to keep the entire staff on (for now), which is the opposite of what happened when the same parent company, G/O Media, sold sports site Deadspin—a deal that included the IP only, no employees.
I wasn't Editor in Chief of Gizmodo for very long, but the team of reporters and editors there are fantastic, dedicated and hard-working, and never let ongoing tension with G/O upper management get in the way of their jobs. It was a privilege to lead them, even if deep disagreements with the CEO led me to leave late last year.
Everyone's searching for new media business models, with display advertising and affiliate commissions both flatlining. That means it's a buyer's market for media properties right now, and I expect more publications to change hands in unexpected ways as we search for a way back to something close to sustainability.
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