Your AI dreams are nowhere near coming true

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a Tannhäuser Gate of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [AI is not getting]( the job done. - [Stagflation is not]( happening. - [More crude oil is not]( coming. - [Cities are not]( as big as they were. Don't sweat it. Photographer: Oli Scarff/Getty Images Europe Artificial Intelligence Is Not Very Intelligent We’ve been conditioned to expect a lot from AI. According to science fiction, [Skynet]( should have become self-aware by 1997. Androids should have been soliloquizing about [attack ships]( on fire off the shoulder of Orion two years ago. But here in the real world of 2021, AI struggles to [not crash]( into parked police cars. [AI is failing at even the most mundane tasks]( we ask of it, writes Parmy Olson. Forget replacing humanity or colonizing space. AI can’t even filter Nazis from your Nana’s Facebook feed or screen patients for tumors. A big problem is the industry’s preoccupation with big, shiny models and neglect of the quality of the data that gets cranked into them. “Garbage in, garbage out” is a thing humans have been [saying]( for a long time, and it’s still true. Speaking of Facebook, this weekend the country met AI expert and whistleblower Frances Haugen, who has revealed in damning detail just how badly that company’s algorithms fail to protect users, public health and democracy. (Between her and every Facebook product going [offline]( at once, briefly improving the collective mood of humanity, Mark Zuckerberg lost [$7 billion]( in a few hours.) As Parmy Olson writes in a second column, [the answer here is not more AI, but more human intervention](. Of course, humans are expensive, what with their pesky demands for food, shelter and dental cleanings every six months. Then again, AI is expensive too. Along with garbage, humans keep throwing money into these AI models, and now more than ever: Without more care, so many of these investments will be [lost in time, like tears in rain](. Time to read the [whole thing](. Bonus Tech Dystopia Reading: Tech behemoths act like nation-states, so let’s [make them full UN members](. — Ben Schott Stag(flation) Party Stocks were [down]( kind of a bunch again today because of reasons. Prices up! Growth down! Fire bad! The word “stagflation” keeps popping up in market commentaries and [irresponsible]( newsletters, which is not helping. But responsible newsletter writer John Authers, echoing Conor Sen last [week](, points out [there’s just too much cash sloshing around]( on consumer and business balance sheets for us to worry about the “stagnation” part of stagflation. That still leaves inflation to worry about. And Brian Chappatta warns the democratization of markets enabled by stuff like Robinhood means [normies are more exposed to falling stock prices]( than ever. That could lead some of them to keep their cash in storage. It’s [quite the dog’s breakfast for the world’s central bankers](, writes Dan Moss. And Gary Shilling warns [they could tip us into recession]( if they try too hard to channel their inner Paul Volcker in response. No Crude Oil For You! It certainly doesn’t calm anybody’s stagflation radar — stagfladar? — that oil prices keep going through the roof as energy crises flare all over the world. And there’s no immediate relief in sight. Liam Denning writes that, even with high prices, [U.S. oil producers don’t want to pump more]( of it because investors punish them for it. The petrostate supergroup known as OPEC+ doesn’t have to worry about tiresome investors. But it’s in [denial about just how scarce oil is getting]( around the world, writes Julian Lee. Today the group [agreed]( to stick to a plan of leisurely production increases, inspiring more frantic buying. Something will have to give here. Telltale Charts America’s big [cities had stopped losing people when the pandemic began](, writes Justin Fox, though they’re still nowhere as powerful as they once were.  Home Depot and Walmart should merge, or at least [go in together on shipping costs](, Tara Lachapelle. Further Reading The [U.S. must join the CPTPP before China does](, or else watch China’s influence grow and the pact’s standards weaken. — Bloomberg’s editorial board Democrats [should focus more on immediate problems]( such as the pandemic and supply hangups. — Matt Yglesias California’s plan to [let homeowners add extra units]( could ease the housing shortage. — Virginia Postrel [Vertical farming uses less water and land]( and doesn’t need chemicals. It’s the future of food. — Amanda Little Traditional farm workers are[increasingly subject to deadly extreme heat](. — Adam Minter Erdogan has burned bridges with the U.S. but [gets little thanks from Putin](. — Bobby Ghosh The Pandora Papers show global finance is [incapable of stopping the rich from hiding]( their money. — David Fickling ICYMI Dems may [pare back SALT-cap relief](. Here are your [Pandora Papers juicy bits](. Shockingly, [Brexit-era England is not quite a utopia](. Kickers William [Shatner is going to space](. [Mick Jagger went to a Charlotte bar]( and nobody noticed. (h/t Ellen Kominers for the first two kickers) An [experimental brain implant]( could treat depression. Unleashing the atom [made humans think of the deep future](. Notes:  Please send dog’s breakfasts and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? 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