Welcome to Axis ProRata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

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I'm Dan Pramak.

On today's show, how hourly workers can participate in private equity takeovers and why Thanksgiving turkey prices are

on the rise. But first, the dirty business of AI washing. So the technology industry loves

nothing more than a hot new buzzword from dot com to web 2.0 to social networking to big data.

But almost all of that pales in comparison to AI or artificial intelligence.

Now, each morning while putting together the ProRata newsletter, I feel like I see at least a dozen

startups that claim to be AI enabled or AI powered. In fact, it's become so ubiquitous as

to be rendered almost meaningless, kind of like when companies refer to themselves as market

leading. Now, to be sure, there are some companies developing and using legitimate AI, but there's way too much stuff masquerading as AI.

Or as a Princeton computer science professor calls it in a very well-circulated slide deck, AI snake oil.

One example used in that paper is so-called AI assessment software for job

finders and employers. There are dozens of companies offering it, but the paper suggests

they are little more than, quote, elaborate random number generators that can be gameed

by adding words like Harvard in invisible white text. In other words, your resume doesn't actually

have to say you went to Harvard, at least not to the naked eye. It just needs to make a computer think that you did.

Why it matters is that this proliferation of AI snake oil can make AI look more powerful

than it really is while simultaneously dulling the public response to legitimate AI advances.

In 15 seconds, we'll try to separate fact

from science fiction with Axios AI reporter Kave Waddell. But first, this. ProRata is presented by

America's beverage companies. Our plastic bottles are 100% recyclable, including the caps. We're

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