AI Still Hasn’t Become the New Google: It Still Relies Heavily on Hyping Up Potential Users

AI was just more of the same until the Studio Ghibli phenomenon took over images. Internet users went wild converting images and videos to mimic the style of master animator Hayao Miyazaki. The recent trend has temporarily reignited interest in AI, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

AI saturation. Since the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022, there’s been an explosion in AI technology. However, after the initial excitement, things have calmed down. While companies have achieved notable advancements, many users have become accustomed to AI, relegating the technology to the background.

In short, the conversation around AI has shifted from initial amazement to a confusing haze of technical jargon that makes it less accessible to the general public.

AI thrives on “magic” moments. It occurred with DeepSeek a few months ago, and it’s happening again with the Ghibli-style trend. Until these exceptional moments arise, AI doesn’t truly engage the broader audience. There’s moderate use among certain segments of the population, and only particular niches–like the programming community–use it extensively. However, people are still missing one critical element: a killer app.

What do you use AI for? The options available are certainly appealing, especially in the creative realm and as assistance for professional tasks. Yet, chatbots haven’t infiltrated our daily lives in the way that Internet search engines did. Search engines addressed a pressing need: finding information online. Meanwhile, AI hasn’t become a ubiquitous replacement for them yet. It hasn’t achieved widespread use either.

In search of an AI that functions like an everyday Google. The revolution of search engines is likely one of the critical future developments for AI. One prime example of this is Perplexity. OpenAI and Google also offer AI-enabled search engines. Although these platforms may not entirely replace traditional search engines, one thing is clear. Users are increasingly searching with ChatGPT and other chatbots.

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Beware the abyss of disillusion. The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAI) recently published a study involving 24 AI researchers. It discussed the well-known Gartner Expectation Cycle, “a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications.” The AAI also claimed that expectations and hype for generative AI have already peaked.

AI is still not a big deal. 79% of experts surveyed indicated that the public perception of AI capabilities doesn’t align with the reality of research and development in the field. In fact, 90% of respondents pointed out that these misconceptions are conditioning current research. Among this group, 74% revealed that experts are only researching areas where expectations remain high.

AGI is a distant reality. Artificial general intelligence is the ultimate goal of many companies in the field. However, a significant number of experts don’t expect that the industry will ever achieve it. 76% of respondents in the AAI study indicated that simply scaling up (more data, more GPUs to train models) won’t be enough to reach AGI. They advocate for a different approach. They say the focus shouldn’t be engaging in a frantic race that overlooks potential consequences. Instead, they emphasize the need to prioritize issues such as security, ethical governance, and gradual, responsible innovation.

Waiting for the next big thing. The initial excitement surrounding the recent Studio Ghibli trend seems to be waning. In a few days or weeks, this buzz will likely be replaced by yet another flashy AI offering. This is precisely what happened with the temporarily thrilling but ultimately unsustainable uncensored images from Grok 3. For now, it seems that this cycle will continue, leaving users anticipating the next game-changing application that might drive widespread AI adoption.

OpenAI and others thrive on hype. AI companies claim that they’re close to AGI and that AI can enhance everything and make it faster. However, these messages are far from the truth. These companies are primarily selling expectations and hype. OpenAI particularly relies on this narrative to secure enormous investment rounds, enabling it to keep burning money as if there were no tomorrow.

Image | Igor Omilaev

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