558: What AI can and can't do

We've seen remarkable gains in artificial intelligence – but only in specific, narrow domains, like fraud prevention or navigation. One reason for that is the way AI innovations get adopted. Another is our poor ability to distinguish between real progress and so-called AI snake oil. This week, we demystify AI with guests Ajay Agrawal, professor in University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, founder of the Creative Destruction Lab, and co-author of a new book, Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence; and Arvind Narayanan, professor of computer science at Princeton University and co-author of the newsletter and forthcoming book called AI Snake Oil.