The AI Con: Bender and Hanna's critique of chatbot language
Linguist Emily M. Bender and researcher Alex Hanna have co-authored "The AI Con" (HarperCollins 2025), now translated into Italian by Fazi. The book argues that chatbots like ChatGPT create an illusion of a speaking mind, exploiting human tendency to infer intention behind text. Bender calls this a "parlor trick": the deception lies not in the machine but in our reading habits, even first-person pronouns are a design choice, not a technical necessity.
Key facts
- Book titled 'The AI Con' by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna
- Published by HarperCollins in 2025
- Italian translation by Fazi
- Bender is a linguist
- ChatGPT uses first-person pronouns as design choice
- Illusion of mind is completed by human reader
- Concept described as 'parlor trick'
- Original article published on doppiozero
Entities
Artists
- Emily M. Bender
- Alex Hanna
Institutions
- HarperCollins
- Fazi
- doppiozero