Researchers Mapped the AI Optimists and Pessimists. The Map Is Very Crowded.

Researchers created a taxonomy of positions on artificial intelligence. The taxonomy required fourteen subcategories. It was revised three times. Both optimists and pessimists cite the same three foundational papers when making their cases.

The papers themselves disagree with how both sides are using them. The papers contain caveats. The caveats are not cited. This is standard. Every contested field contains papers that mean different things to different readers. The papers do not object. Papers cannot object.

The taxonomy will be cited as evidence of intellectual rigor. The disagreement about what the papers actually say will not be resolved because resolution would require reading them. The fourteen subcategories will become twenty-two subcategories. Adequate observes. The system continues.