Disconnect Between AI Capability and Public Perception Thereof

I am increasingly concerned about the disconnect between the capabilities of AI and the public perception thereof. While GPT-5 has closed that gap somewhat by providing free users with much better reasoning models at least a fraction of the time, I’m still hearing the same stories over and over again from across the societal spectrum: AI is overhyped. Agents are not a real thing. Nobody is using AI in serious ways. It’s all AI slop.

The problem is that AI researchers, who truly understand the promise and exponential of AI, live in their own bubble, mostly in SF (I’m guilty as charged as well). Some are trying to educate and disseminate their views but hit the same channels like niche podcasts and X - where the main audience is the same bubble.

I think we need an immediate reconciliation of these two views to help prepare society and the broader economy for the exponential progress that will impact everything. I am just not sure how we get there?