A new Harvard Kennedy School survey of 5,400 U.S. adults shows men often pretend to know AI figures. 73% said they recognized OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and 53% claimed to know Mira Murati, Susan Milner and Craig Dalton. Milner and Dalton are fictional, while Murati is real. Men also used AI more often and answered factual AI questions correctly more often than women, but both genders answered incorrectly at similar rates.
Why it matters
The overconfidence may skew public discourse, giving a louder platform to men’s opinions about AI while quieter, uncertain voices—often women’s—are under‑represented.
