I've noticed as I'm seeing these abbreviated /A /I letters for Artificial Intelligence popping up more frequently in sans fonts that have just a standard vertical stroke for the /I (unlike this sites font), that even in context of a sentence, I still seem to get a little sticking point when reading it. Wrestling with is it saying "Al" (lowercase /l, as in a person's name), even though I know it's not, especially just seeing a headline at a glance.
So it makes me wonder about font choices that do or don't have a clearer distinction between those glyphs, and more specifically if sans fonts would benefit from more crossbar /I (capital /i) glyph options.
I've seen text using "A.I." and even just "ai" when talking about it. Not as punchy, but perhaps easier to read(?)
Just kind of thinking aloud here, and maybe nothing of real substance, but curious.
Comments
Personally, I like the readability of the crossbar /I to help me quicker distinguish it's intent in the word. But visually, I find them a little clunky at times and tend to prefer the bar-less standard /I. (There have been a few fonts where I do include an alt option, but that requires a savvy user to decide to use it.)
Weird AI Writes Song About Weird Al
Comparing this to some of the original screenshot examples. Posting for context and although slightly odd feeling, I still found it to be a quicker read.
For cases where the default cap I is not serifed, then yes, what Nick said. If cap I is preceded by A, but not by another cap before the A, substitute the serifed version.
For example, in AFDKO format, you might create a class for caps, and then...
ignore sub @caps @caps A I';
sub @caps A I' by I.serifed;
At the least, the awkwardness of reading it sometimes (though it's being helped by becoming more familiar) got me thinking the inclusion of an alt serifed /I could be helpful in certain fonts, particularly as a Contextual alt as you noted.
ignore sub @caps A I';
sub A I' by I.serifed;