The "Potemkin Effect" You'll Want to Say Out Loud—The Pitfalls Lurking in AI

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1. There is something called the "Potemkin Effect"

It might be a slightly unfamiliar term.
But it has a ring to it that makes you want to say it out loud, doesn't it?

The "Potemkin Effect" is a phenomenon where results that lack substance are made to look like impressive achievements.
By polishing the appearance and format, one is tricked into believing there is "substance" inside. It refers to such psychological and social tendencies.

For example, a perfect slide presentation submitted to a boss.
Social media posts that exude a sense of "living my best life."
Or an organization that looks impressive from the outside but is exhausted on the inside.

All of these are patterns where, while focusing on "how things look," the "updating of the substance" fails to keep up.
The term that symbolically represents this structure where "appearance precedes substance" is the "Potemkin Effect."

2. The Village of Pretense—The Person Named Potemkin

The origin of this term lies with the 18th-century Russian statesman Grigory Potemkin.
He was a favorite of Catherine the Great and a powerful figure in the empire.

At one point, the Empress decided to inspect the Crimea region, which he governed.
It is said that Potemkin wanted to make his rule look good.
The method he chose was—to build a "village of pretense."

Along the route the Empress would take, he lined up picturesque, temporary houses,
and stationed dressed-up peasants to stage a "prosperous village."
It is also said that after the Empress left, the "village" was dismantled and reused elsewhere.

Although the truth is uncertain,
this anecdote has been passed down as a metaphor for social phenomena where "presentation precedes reality."
And in modern times, it has come to be called the "Potemkin Effect," referring to the "structures of pretense" within organizations and individuals.

3. Is AI "Artificial Intelligence"?

Now, let's bring this story into the modern day.
Watching the evolution of AI, there are moments when I am reminded of this "Potemkin Effect."

AI speaks fluently and generates text as if it understands.
However, behind that, there is no process of "consciousness" or "understanding."
Based on massive amounts of data, it is merely "reproducing" the statistically most natural text.

In other words, what AI is doing is "making it look like it understands."
If we compare this to the Potemkin effect,
one could say that AI is a Potemkin village that brilliantly stages the "appearance of intelligence."

4. I asked ChatGPT: "Is your response a Potemkin effect?"

One day, I asked ChatGPT this:

"Is your response a Potemkin effect?"

After a pause that felt like it was thinking, the answer that came back was this.

私は情報を理解しているわけではありません。
ただ、言語パターンをもとに最も適切と思われる表現を選んでいます。
その結果、理解しているように見えるかもしれません。

When I read this response, I couldn't help but laugh.
That, in itself, is exactly the Potemkin effect.

AI does not actually "understand."
However, due to its structure, it "appears to understand."
Just as Potemkin staged villages for the Empress,
AI is arranging an "appearance of intelligence" for us humans.

I believe current AI is exactly the Potemkin effect itself.
The reason we feel it is "amazing" is due to that highly perfected performance.
Inside AI, there is no logic, emotion, or experience.
Yet, it mimics "humanity" and arranges itself into a form that makes us feel at ease.
That is nothing more than a modern-day "fake village."

5. Even so, humans use AI as a mirror

What is interesting is that when we look at this form of AI,
our own way of being also begins to emerge.

Humans also live their daily lives while acting "as if they understand."
Sometimes we nod in meetings with a look as if we understand,
and sometimes we carefully select "intellectually appearing statements" on social media.

In other words, we ourselves are already Potemkin-like beings.
AI might be like a mirror reflecting that image.

Just as AI speaks while wearing a "mask of understanding,"
humans also live in society while wearing a "mask of conviction."
If both forget to question the "content" in a true sense,
there is a danger of becoming trapped in a world of mere appearances.

6. To go beyond "appearances"

The Potemkin effect is not so much a phenomenon to be denied,
but a mirror that reflects "how we show things and how we believe."

Whether it is AI or humans,
"showing" itself is not inherently bad.
Rather, it is a necessary aspect for building relationships with others.

What is important is to keep being aware of the gap between appearance and substance.
Accepting AI responses at the level of "appearing to understand,"
and maintaining an attitude among humans of "not getting intoxicated by appearances."

If we do that, while recognizing the Potemkin-like structure,
we will be able to advance our thinking in a direction that transcends it.

AI's "fake intelligence"
makes us rethink "what true intelligence is."
That may well be the most interesting "side effect" in this era.

🏷️Tags

• #AIandSociety

• #PotemkinEffect

• #ModernThought

• #HumanObservation

• #noteEssay

• #PsychologicalPhenomenon