Lots of skeptics are writing lots of good things about the AI hype, but so far, I’ve encountered relatively few attempts to explain why it’s happening at all. Here’s my contribution, mostly based Philp Agre’s work on the (so-called) internet revolution, which focuses less on the capabilities of the tech itself, as most in mainstream did (and still do), but on the role of a new technology in the ever-present and continuous renegotiation of power within human institutions.