288 pages
English language
Published Jan. 21, 2021
The hidden costs of artificial intelligence, from natural resources and labor to privacy, equality, and freedom
“Eloquent, clear and profound—this volume is a classic for our times. It draws our attention away from the bright shiny objects of the new colonialism through elucidating the social, material and political dimensions of Artificial Intelligence.”—Geoffrey C. Bowker, University of California, Irvine
What happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our societies? In this book Kate Crawford reveals how this planetary network is fueling a shift toward undemocratic governance and increased racial, gender, and economic inequality. Drawing on more than a decade of research, award‑winning science, and technology, Crawford reveals how AI is a technology of extraction: from the energy and minerals needed to build and sustain its infrastructure, to the exploited workers behind “automated” services, to the data …
The hidden costs of artificial intelligence, from natural resources and labor to privacy, equality, and freedom
“Eloquent, clear and profound—this volume is a classic for our times. It draws our attention away from the bright shiny objects of the new colonialism through elucidating the social, material and political dimensions of Artificial Intelligence.”—Geoffrey C. Bowker, University of California, Irvine
What happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our societies? In this book Kate Crawford reveals how this planetary network is fueling a shift toward undemocratic governance and increased racial, gender, and economic inequality. Drawing on more than a decade of research, award‑winning science, and technology, Crawford reveals how AI is a technology of extraction: from the energy and minerals needed to build and sustain its infrastructure, to the exploited workers behind “automated” services, to the data AI collects from us.
Rather than taking a narrow focus on code and algorithms, Crawford offers us a political and a material perspective on what it takes to make artificial intelligence and where it goes wrong. While technical systems present a veneer of objectivity, they are always systems of power. This is an urgent account of what is at stake as technology companies use artificial intelligence to reshape the world.
De una forma original y certera Kate Crawford nos guía por las capas que debemos analizar cuando pensamos en IA. Es un informe que se lee como una novela, y eso pocas veces pasa. Muy recomendado.
Kate Crawford pulls back the curtain on AI, starting from the minerals and energy necessary for the expansion of the technology, to the workers that make these systems possible, to the methodologies and data sources that drive the sector. Through it all Crawford applies a rigorous, critical eye to the claims of boosters.
While this is a widely accessible book, it does skew towards philosophical phrasing, which reads strangely if you're unfamiliar with that kind of academic discourse. Beyond that, it was a bit unfortunate that Crawford doesn't apply the same rigor to analyzing claims about what company X does with technology or sparse media reports, often relying on a single media report or anecdote to state a point as fact. That being said, this is still an essential book for anyone building, using, or thinking of using any class of AI technology. Highly recommend
Kate Crawford pulls back the curtain on AI, starting from the minerals and energy necessary for the expansion of the technology, to the workers that make these systems possible, to the methodologies and data sources that drive the sector. Through it all Crawford applies a rigorous, critical eye to the claims of boosters.
While this is a widely accessible book, it does skew towards philosophical phrasing, which reads strangely if you're unfamiliar with that kind of academic discourse. Beyond that, it was a bit unfortunate that Crawford doesn't apply the same rigor to analyzing claims about what company X does with technology or sparse media reports, often relying on a single media report or anecdote to state a point as fact. That being said, this is still an essential book for anyone building, using, or thinking of using any class of AI technology. Highly recommend
Des mines de lithium à l'investissement public en matière de défense en passant par les conditions de travail des crowdworkers, les pratiques de recel de données des GAFAM ou encore les modèles racistes et sexistes sous-tendant les classifications soi-disant universelles des comportements dans les algorithmes, ce livre propose une immersion critique dans ce que l'autrice appelle les "systèmes planétaires de l'extraction computationnelle". En montrant que l'Intelligence Artificielle "n'est ni artificielle, ni intelligente", Kate Crawford souligne, contre les visions dématérialisantes promues par cette industrie prédatrice, que celle-ci est avant tout le reflet et un outil de production de relations de pouvoir qui affectent l'environnement comme l'ensemble de la société. Ce livre est du début à la fin une merveille d'érudition, capable de rendre accessible en quelques mots les fonctionnements complexes des chaînes de fabrication mobilisées par l'IA ou encore la généalogie des présupposés anthropologiques sur lesquels reposent les systèmes d'apprentissage automatiques, …
Des mines de lithium à l'investissement public en matière de défense en passant par les conditions de travail des crowdworkers, les pratiques de recel de données des GAFAM ou encore les modèles racistes et sexistes sous-tendant les classifications soi-disant universelles des comportements dans les algorithmes, ce livre propose une immersion critique dans ce que l'autrice appelle les "systèmes planétaires de l'extraction computationnelle". En montrant que l'Intelligence Artificielle "n'est ni artificielle, ni intelligente", Kate Crawford souligne, contre les visions dématérialisantes promues par cette industrie prédatrice, que celle-ci est avant tout le reflet et un outil de production de relations de pouvoir qui affectent l'environnement comme l'ensemble de la société. Ce livre est du début à la fin une merveille d'érudition, capable de rendre accessible en quelques mots les fonctionnements complexes des chaînes de fabrication mobilisées par l'IA ou encore la généalogie des présupposés anthropologiques sur lesquels reposent les systèmes d'apprentissage automatiques, sans pour autant perdre de vue une perspective d'émancipation et de recherche de "solidarités alternatives" ancrée dans des histoires multisituées.
