Feeding the machine

Muldoon, James

£20.00

AI promises to transform everything, from work to transport to war, and to solve our problems with total ease, just like magic. But hidden beneath the promise is a very human cost. Everything AI can do depends on armies of annotators, moderators and other data workers – people doing poorly paid, gruelling labour for the benefit of some of the richest companies in the world. Based on hundreds of interviews and more than a decade of research, ‘Feeding the Machine’ reveals the exploitation that makes AI look so effortless, talking to the people that build it and those it threatens to replace. It shows that all this new technology is founded on old, brutal systems of colonialism and capitalism, and details exactly what we need to do, individually and globally, if we are going to protect our future, and resist the harm that AI is already causing.

In stock

Publish Date: 18/07/2024

Description

Big Tech has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions that labour under often appalling conditions to make AI possible. Feeding the Machine presents an urgent, riveting investigation of the intricate network of organisations that maintain this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of AI.

Based on hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of fieldwork over more than a decade, this book shows us the lives of the workers often deliberately concealed from view and the systems of power that determine their future. It shows how AI is an extraction machine that churns through ever-larger datasets and feeds off humanity’s labour and collective intelligence to power its algorithms. Feeding the Machine is a call to arms against this exploitative system and details what we need to do, individually and collectively, to fight for a more just digital future.

Additional information

Weight 486 g
Dimensions 240 × 162 × 25 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

320

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

331.25 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K