Pundit ClaimsAI claims by Gary Marcus and Ed Zitron, with the evidence

Ed Zitron Where's Your Ed At Published

Lost In The Future

We recorded 4 claims from this post. 4 can’t be checked. 4 more are held. Read the post at its source.

Claims from this post (4)

In the order they appear in the post. Each quotation is the speaker’s words in this post. A label such as “Supported” or “Can’t be checked” is the claim’s current assessment; its page has the evidence and the reasons.

  1. Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid

    “Covering Meta, Twitter, Google, OpenAI and other huge tech companies as if the products they make are remarkable and perfect is disrespectful to readers and a disgusting abdication of responsibility, as their products are, even when they're functional, significantly worse, more annoying, more frustrating and more convoluted than ever”

    What we tested: Media should not cover OpenAI and other big tech companies' products as remarkable and perfect, because those products are worse and more frustrating than ever.

  2. Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid

    “OpenAI being "worth" $157 billion for a company that burns $5 billion or more a year to make a product that destroys our environment for a product yet to find any real meaning isn't a sign that it should get more coverage or be taken more seriously.”

    What we tested: OpenAI's $157 billion valuation is not a reason for it to receive more coverage or be taken more seriously.

  3. Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid

    “Whatever you may feel about ChatGPT, the coverage it receives is outsized compared to its actual utility and the things built on top of it, and that's a direct result of a media industry that seems incapable of holding the powerful accountable.”

    What we tested: ChatGPT's media coverage is outsized compared to its actual utility and the things built on top of it, and this is a direct result of a media industry that seems incapable of holding the powerful accountable.

  4. Assessment: Can’t be checkedSaid

    “And yet so much of the tech industry — consumer software like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and even ChatGPT, and business software from companies like Microsoft and Slack — outright sucks, yet gets covered as if that's just "how things are."”

    What we tested: So much of the tech industry, including consumer software like Google, Facebook, Twitter and even ChatGPT and business software from companies like Microsoft and Slack, outright sucks, yet is covered as if that is just how things are.

Held from this post (4)

These records did not pass every check, so nothing about them is published. Held is not a finding.

  • The criteria are ambiguous. Our reading, not assessed: OpenAI, valued at $157 billion, burns $5 billion or more a year on an environmentally destructive product that has yet to find real meaning.
  • The two reviews reached different assessments. Our reading, not assessed: Social networks are so algorithmically charged that they barely show users what they want anymore, with executives dedicated to filling feeds with AI-generated slop because users, despite being the customer, are also the revenue mechanism.
  • The two reviews reached different assessments. Our reading, not assessed: Sam Altman has spent years lying about what AI can do, yet media coverage over the past year has uncritically amplified his claims and apologized for OpenAI's obvious problems.
  • The two reviews read the claim differently