I'm gonna scream the next time I hear a newscaster or some podcaster or some other bloke try to explain "what AI is" by giving some half assed word salad describing (a child's perception of) neural networks.
Fuck, back when the internal combustion engine was invented, did the newsies and radio hosts explained the concept of "explosion" every time they were to talk about engines?

True story. The Wright brothers were flying for half a decade. The media assumed it was a hoax. They snuck out onto the airfield to capture the hoax on camera. They came walking out in awe from behind a bush with their jaws open.

The MSM has not gotten any better since then IMO.

first time?

if the concept of "explosion" wasn't something the average person would perceive reasonably often? i mean... guns and fireworks have been used long before the motor.

neural nets, however, is something that eludes most people even if you hammer it into their brains three times a day.

I kinda forgive newscasters.

They are told to simplify things for the average person.

When it comes to subjects taught in science class they can assume there's some base level of knowledge - and they can actually have a scientist as a guest and let them mention stuff like electrons, the scientific method, chemical reactions etc. (Even though they often also simplify things to a 5 year old level and say stuff like "If a nuclear plant was a human, uranium would be like a hamburger")

Software on the other hand is not taught to everyone in school - so they have to assume zero knowledge.

Software is also abstract and invisible, unlike real world physics like explosions.