Based on the audience’s questions during the Q&A, this was likely the first real introduction to generative and physical AI<\/a> for many of them. The group absorbed everything uncritically, nodding along and blooming with excitement as the lecture painted a picture of a future transformed entirely for the better.\u00a0<\/p>\n In one particularly grating instance, we were shown a video of LG’s laundry-folding robot<\/a>\u00a0that debuted last month at the\u00a0CES 2026<\/a>\u00a0trade show in Las Vegas. Having seen the robot for myself, I knew how slow it was at folding just one uniform-sized T-shirt. A robot that can actually assist with home chores is years away.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Who wants this robot?” the speaker shouted, and hands raised all over the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n Was there any mention of the technology’s limitations, like the fact that it needs human help to reach into the hamper? Was there any mention of the prohibitive cost? Of course not. The crowd left that room with their understanding of AI shaped by someone who had carefully avoided mentioning any of the technology’s downsides.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n The people with platforms — whether they’re tech experts, museum lecturers or influencers with millions of followers — have a responsibility to tell the truth about AI. Not just the exciting parts. Not just the parts that make for good marketing. All of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n When public figures highlight AI’s capabilities, they gloss over its risks: the devastating environmental impact<\/a>, the proclivity for chatbots to hallucinate<\/a> and make things up<\/a>, the concerning way AI use affects memory skills<\/a>\u00a0and the rising incidents of AI-induced psychosis<\/a> and suicide<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n These dangers are conveniently left out of the conversation; conversations that shape public perception in a way that serves a select few’s interests, not the world’s.\u00a0<\/p>\n We’ve seen this dangerous pattern before.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since a 2018 US Supreme Court decision allowed states to legalize sports betting, celebrities and influencers have lined up to promote betting apps, pocketing massive checks while their followers face rising rates of gambling addiction<\/a> and financial ruin.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 2021 crypto boom also brought a parade of celebrities hawking digital coins, many of which later crashed, leaving regular people holding worthless assets. Kim Kardashian settled\u00a0with the SEC<\/a> for $1.26 million in penalties for promoting a crypto token without disclosing that she was paid to do so. Matt Damon told us “fortune favors the brave” in a February 2022 Crypto.com Super Bowl ad that aged terribly<\/a> in the wake of that year’s crypto crash.\u00a0<\/p>\n We’re watching the same story unfold with AI. We’re seeing household-name actors<\/a> jump into\u00a0Super Bowl commercials<\/a>\u00a0championing AI companies for 100 million people. Influencers are taking money<\/a>\u00a0from AI companies to promote tools they probably don’t even use and likely don’t even understand, to audiences who have grown to trust them.\u00a0<\/p>\n The difference is that AI’s risks go beyond financial loss. We’re talking about job displacement<\/a>, the erosion of creative industries, the spread of misinformation at scale, deepfakes<\/a> that can destroy reputations and, as mentioned earlier, the environmental cost of running these massive models.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is why I appreciate artists like Guillermo del Toro who speak realistically about AI. When models that referenced his distinctive visual style<\/a> went viral, he didn’t mince words about generative AI trained on artists’ work without their permission, compensation or respect for copyright laws<\/a>. He called it theft.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other artists<\/a> and public figures have been similarly direct about the threat AI poses to their livelihoods and craft. Meanwhile, tech executives and developers dismiss these concerns as the latest wave of Luddism.\u00a0<\/p>\n While I generally believe that famous people are not role models to follow or trust, many people do. They assume that if someone with credentials or celebrity is enthusiastically promoting something, then it must be safe, beneficial and inevitable. That public trust comes with responsibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you’re going to insist on talking about AI in public, taking $600,000<\/a> to promote Microsoft Copilot to millions on social media or, if you’re the NFL, partnering with an AI company<\/a> in a commercial airing during the biggest sporting event in America, you have an obligation to present the full picture — especially to audiences who are just learning about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speak about the limitations. Talk about the jobs that are being eliminated. Mention the artists whose work is being scraped without consent to train these models. Acknowledge the staggering energy consumption. Explain how easy it is to generate convincing misinformation. Disclose when you’re paid by an AI company to say what you’re saying.\u00a0<\/p>\n This doesn’t mean you can’t discuss the possibilities and benefits of AI. It has real potential to accelerate drug discovery, improve disease outcomes and solve complex problems. But framing it as pure progress and innovation — as an unalloyed good — is ignorant or deceptive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like the surrealist work that emerged after World War I, AI is revolutionary, provocative and disruptive. They both challenge the ways we see the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n But surrealism was intentional and deeply human, rooted in our minds and expressions and emotions. Generative AI is machine-driven pattern recognition. Surrealism was created to defy conventions and reach the ultimate truth and authenticity.\u00a0<\/p>\n We still deserve the truth now. The conversation around AI is happening, whether we like it or not, and it’s happening fast. The least we can ask is that the people leading that conversation tell us the facts of the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In one of the opening shots of Un Chien Andalou, a 1929 French film co-written by Salvador Dal\u00ed,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-476082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}