5 things to keep in mind about AI hype

Below, Josh Tyrangiel shares five key insights from his new book, AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter. Tyrangiel spent the last few years covering artificial intelligence, first at The Washington Post and now at The Atlantic. Before that, he ran Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Media, and made news and documentaries for HBO and Netflix. What’s the big idea? AI’s greatest impact is coming not from flashy promises but from practical tools that help people solve real problems. Ignore the hype, focus on the evidence, and see AI as a powerful assistant that can enhance human capabilities when used responsibly. Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Tyrangiel himself—in the Next Big Idea app, or buy the book. 1. Hype is the enemy. The biggest obstacle to AI doing genuine good in the world isn’t the technology—it’s all the talking. Every week brings a new announcement that AI will cure cancer, end poverty, or make your job obsolete by Thursday. The noise is so loud that it drowns out the signal. What I’ve found is that the places where AI is actually working—saving lives, teaching kids, fixing broken systems—are almost never the places dominating headlines. These stories are quieter, less theatrical, and run by people who are more interested in outcomes than attention. The hype cycle does real damage. It creates unrealistic expectations that lead to backlash. It pulls investment toward flashy demos and away from unglamorous problems. And it makes ordinary people feel like AI is something happening to them rather than something that could work for them. The first step to understanding AI’s real potential is turning down the volume on the people most loudly selling it. 2. In healthcare, AI is already saving lives. The Cleveland Clinic is not a place that makes a lot of noise. It’s a place that does a lot of work. And a few years ago, they deployed an AI system designed to do one specific thing: Catch sep