The challenges and writing practices of communicating artificial intelligence and machine learning in an era of hype

Given the undeniable hype around artificial intelligence (AI), it is imperative to investigate both how researchers of AI negotiate this hype as well as wrestle with it in their research. To do so, we study the perspectives of these scientists actively transforming contemporary life via machine learning (ML). Using qualitative interviews with 108 researchers, we explore communication challenges: addressing the hype surrounding AI and ML, communicating technical knowledge, and publication pressures. We report how these unique conditions shape this population’s writing practices: document cycling, writing-to-learn, and video production/social media activity. Ultimately, we aim to provide insight into the breadth of practices in this rapidly-evolving discipline, without advocating for any.