Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence

The hidden costs of artificial intelligencefrom natural resources and labor to privacy, equality, and freedomThis study argues that [artificial intelligence] is neither artificial nor particularly intelligent. . . . A fascinating history of the data on which machinelearning systems are trained.New YorkerA valuable corrective to much of the hype surrounding AI and a useful instruction manual for the future.John Thornhill, Financial TimesIts a masterpiece, and I havent been able to stop thinking about it.Karen Hao, senior editor, MIT Tech ReviewWhat happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our societies? Drawing on more than a decade of research, awardwinning scholar Kate Crawford reveals how AI is a technology of extraction: from the minerals drawn from the earth to the labor pulled from lowwage information workers to the data taken from every action and expression.Crawford reveals how this planetary network is fueling a shift toward undemocratic governance and increased inequity. Rather than taking a narrow focus on code and algorithms, Crawford offers us a material and political perspective on what it takes to make AI and how it centralizes power. This is an urgent account of what is at stake as technology companies use artificial intelligence to reshape the world.