--- title: "The Average Man Is Such a BSer About AI That He’ll Claim to Know About an AI Executive Who Doesn’t Even Exist" description: "More than half of men claimed to know about an AI figure who doesn't actually exist, according to a new survey." date: "2026-10-19" modified: "2026-10-19" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/average-man-bser-fake-ai-executive" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # The Average Man Is Such a BSer About AI That He’ll Claim to Know About an AI Executive Who Doesn’t Even Exist ![A confident-looking man smiles into the camera.]() *Shutterstock / AYO Production* Men, it's probably best to leave faking intelligence to AI chatbots. According to a [new survey]() from Harvard's Shorenstein Center, over half of dudes will pretend to know stuff about the AI industry even if they have absolutely zero clue what they're talking about. In the survey, Harvard researchers asked more than 5,400 respondents if they knew who various AI executives were. A full 98 percent of men said they were familiar with Elon Musk, which seems reasonable, and 73 percent said they knew who Sam Altman was. But what about more peripheral figures? When it came to Susan Milner and Craig Dalton, only 53 percent of men said they knew who they were. There was a hilarious catch: Milner and Dalton don't exist. Men, the data showed, were chronic bluffers. Women fibbed about knowing who Milner and Dalton were, too, but at a much lower share of 40 percent each. "We're seeing that men are more optimistic and more confident" across the board when it comes to AI, Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center executive director Laura Manley [told *Wired*](). It says a lot about men, sure, but also AI discourse. It's a topic that's dominating the conversation and seeping into every facet of our culture. AI is either going to [destroy the world]() or cure cancer [and help us conquer the galaxy](). Hundreds of billions of dollars are being poured into it, and it's quickly reshaping society. It's incredibly consequential, in other words. So you have to have a take on it and know everything about it, or risk looking like an idiot. "There's so much confidence in either doom or abundance," Manley told *Wired*. "It just drowns out all of the voices that should be saying 'not sure.'" Besides pretending they were knowledgeable, men were also more optimistic about AI, the survey showed — while women were more concerned and worried. Ignorance, as they say, is bliss. **More on AI:** [*AI Experts Already Doomsday Prepping for When AI Takes Out the Entire Financial System*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()