Why people want to believe AI is fake: a "marketplace of rationalizations"
xuanalogue · x · 2026-09-21
Responding to Jack Clark's "virus" metaphor for AI-skeptic narratives, philosopher Daniel Williams argues it's too passive: many people want to believe AI is fake as a way of denigrating tech companies, creating audience demand for narratives that fit that preference.
Williams cites his paper in Economics & Philosophy, "The marketplace of rationalizations": beliefs function like goods in a market — people can only believe what they can rationalize, and motivated reasoning determines which rationalizations spread. This helps explain the persistence of AI-skeptic talking points.
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