The AI con : how to fight big tech's hype and create the future we want
Bender, Emily M.
The AI con : how to fight big tech's hype and create the future we want by Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna - London : The Bodley Head, ©2025 - xi, 274 p. ; 23 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-257) and index.
Chapter 1. An introduction to AI hype Chapter 2. It's alive! The hype of thinking machines Chapter 3. Leisure for me, gig work for thee : AI hype at work Chapter 4. If it quacks like a doc : AI hype and social services Chapter 5. Artifice or intelligence? AI hype in art, journalism, and science Chapter 6. I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that : AI doomers, AI boosters, and why none of that makes sense Chapter 7. Do you believe in hope after hype?
Two of the world's best-known AI insiders-turned-critics expose the lies and hype surrounding AI. A smart, incisive take-down of the bogus claims being made about so-called 'artificial intelligence', exposing the real harm these technologies do to our jobs, health, society and environment, who stands to gain from them, and how to fight back. Is AI going to take over the world? Have scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to replace all our jobs, even creative ones, like doctors, teachers and care-workers? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything? The answers to these questions, as the expert authors of The AI Con make clear, are 'no', 'they wish', 'LOL', and 'definitely not'. In fact, these fears are all symptoms of the hype being used by tech corporations to justify data theft, motivate surveillance capitalism, and devalue human creativity so they can replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. Meanwhile, across healthcare, education, media, government and law-enforcement, 'AI' products are already being introduced that are unreliable, ineffective, unjust and dangerous. Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, The AI Con arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation and power-grabs it aims to hide, and push back against it at work and in your daily life. A smart, incisive take-down of the bogus claims being made about so-called 'artificial intelligence', exposing the real harm these technologies do to our jobs, health, society and environment, who stands to gain from them, and how to fight back. Is AI going to take over the world? Have scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to replace all our jobs, even creative ones, like doctors, teachers and care-workers? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything? The answers to these questions, as the expert authors of The AI Con make clear, are 'no', 'they wish', 'LOL', and 'definitely not'. In fact, these fears are all symptoms of the hype being used by tech corporations to justify data theft, motivate surveillance capitalism, and devalue human creativity so they can replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. Meanwhile, across healthcare, education, media, government and law-enforcement, 'AI' products are already being introduced that are unreliable, ineffective, unjust and dangerous. Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, The AI Con arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation and power-grabs it aims to hide, and push back against it at work and in your daily life.
9781847928627
AI Artificial intelligence
Computers and society
Technological innovations -- Social aspects
006.3 / BEN-A
The AI con : how to fight big tech's hype and create the future we want by Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna - London : The Bodley Head, ©2025 - xi, 274 p. ; 23 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-257) and index.
Chapter 1. An introduction to AI hype Chapter 2. It's alive! The hype of thinking machines Chapter 3. Leisure for me, gig work for thee : AI hype at work Chapter 4. If it quacks like a doc : AI hype and social services Chapter 5. Artifice or intelligence? AI hype in art, journalism, and science Chapter 6. I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that : AI doomers, AI boosters, and why none of that makes sense Chapter 7. Do you believe in hope after hype?
Two of the world's best-known AI insiders-turned-critics expose the lies and hype surrounding AI. A smart, incisive take-down of the bogus claims being made about so-called 'artificial intelligence', exposing the real harm these technologies do to our jobs, health, society and environment, who stands to gain from them, and how to fight back. Is AI going to take over the world? Have scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to replace all our jobs, even creative ones, like doctors, teachers and care-workers? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything? The answers to these questions, as the expert authors of The AI Con make clear, are 'no', 'they wish', 'LOL', and 'definitely not'. In fact, these fears are all symptoms of the hype being used by tech corporations to justify data theft, motivate surveillance capitalism, and devalue human creativity so they can replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. Meanwhile, across healthcare, education, media, government and law-enforcement, 'AI' products are already being introduced that are unreliable, ineffective, unjust and dangerous. Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, The AI Con arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation and power-grabs it aims to hide, and push back against it at work and in your daily life. A smart, incisive take-down of the bogus claims being made about so-called 'artificial intelligence', exposing the real harm these technologies do to our jobs, health, society and environment, who stands to gain from them, and how to fight back. Is AI going to take over the world? Have scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to replace all our jobs, even creative ones, like doctors, teachers and care-workers? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything? The answers to these questions, as the expert authors of The AI Con make clear, are 'no', 'they wish', 'LOL', and 'definitely not'. In fact, these fears are all symptoms of the hype being used by tech corporations to justify data theft, motivate surveillance capitalism, and devalue human creativity so they can replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. Meanwhile, across healthcare, education, media, government and law-enforcement, 'AI' products are already being introduced that are unreliable, ineffective, unjust and dangerous. Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, The AI Con arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation and power-grabs it aims to hide, and push back against it at work and in your daily life.
9781847928627
AI Artificial intelligence
Computers and society
Technological innovations -- Social aspects
006.3 / BEN-A