# Achiam says media treats prominent AI skeptics as experts despite wrong predictions

> Original title: "If there is an argument about whether a technology is going to work, there must be experts on both sides of the debate, so whoever is mo...

- Source: Joshua Achiam
- Published: 2026-10-29T19:07:17.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/qzm9p2uagslka1ek1f52j40a2
- Original: https://x.com/jachiam0/status/2115883185263485347

## Summary

Joshua Achiam argues that media treats whoever is most prominent on the anti side of a technology debate as an expert, even when that side is wrong. He says these skeptics then mislead the public, and no penalty falls on them after the debate resolves. The post cites Ed Zitron, whose AI predictions a reply says have been proven wrong, as an example.

## Post

"If there is an argument about whether a technology is going to work, there must be experts on both sides of the debate, so whoever is most prominent on the anti side must be an expert" is an obviously absurd fallacy, but enough of the media basically treats it as an axiom that they mint pathological naysayers into an expert class who then systematically mislead the public. The charade goes on until the debate resolves definitively, at which point no penalties are applied to the side that naysayed in bad faith.

## Quoted post @ArmandDoma

> ed zitron has made like endless predictions about ai that have been proven black and white WRONG and yet he keeps getting touted as an AI expert

https://x.com/ArmandDoma/status/2115598730925838441