At the heart of the tech industry’s latest math wars lies a broader debate: is AI really the saviour or the harbinger of doom? Timnit Gebru, a tech idealist turned radical, fears the latter is a distraction.

‘Safety and alignment’? Not so much, says Gebru. She argues that tech companies’ focus on solving abstract problems is a red herring, while the real dangers of AI—autonomous weapons, climate catastrophe, and worker exploitation—are being sidelined.

‘When a bridge collapses, you don’t blame the bridge,’ Gebru argues. ‘You blame the engineer. The same logic should apply to AI.’

In a world increasingly reliant on AI, Gebru warns that the narrative of impending apocalypse serves to obscure the tangible threats. ‘The machine-god narrative is meant to distract us from the real issues,’ she contends.

As AI continues to shape our future, Gebru’s critique challenges us to ask: are we being distracted by the wrong fears, or are we ignoring the real dangers?