Reviews

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

beanbag883's review against another edition

Didn’t need all of it for research, might return

adinortey's review

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

3.5

laurel616's review

I think this could be a really interesting book, but I’m not currently in the correct mindset to read it. 

kaichai's review

5.0

Amazing book covering the many interconnected moving parts supporting the creation and use of AI/ML and how each of these pieces have their own moral and ethical considerations. From the human and environmental impact of mining for rare earth materials to the inhumane treatment of blue collar and service workers from thoughtless implementations of predictive algorithms used in programs like just in time scheduling.

I have been involved in the development of AI for a number of years now, and I had no idea that such an ubiquitous computer vision dataset was riddled with horribly outdated sexist, racist, and homophobic classes. I understood that it would be lacking diversity and use a binary gender classification system but the extent to which it made judgements on classes assuming you could know the morals or employment or headspace of a person is demeaning.

I really appreciate that the author brought these problems up with relation to AI as it is not a technology created and implemented in a perfect academic vacuum. AI does drastically codify the current systemic power imbalances and makes it easy to blame simple class biases when the entire training datasets are flawed, including the premise which they may be based on. This will be getting multiple reads from me.

jeanettegtf's review

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Such a good overview of the ethical and complexities of AI. Such an interesting exploration of how the roots of AI influence its development and impact on current day applications.

linearbobo's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

diano's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

3.5

massivepizzacrust's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

Really different perspective on AI than what I've seen in other books, and the most comprehensive walk through the entire infrastructure that supports AI systems. Reading was a bit slow but I think that was necessary to accommodate the breadth of sources and examples. In parts it read almost like true crime, that's how egregious some of the stories were. I'm happy I own this so I can go back and refresh my memory on some of the facts presented.

I also recommend the audiobook, I listened to part of the book that way and I think it helped me understand some of the denser concepts. 

inanaloglife's review

5.0

This one is great for the geeks and forces you to look beyond the shiny surface of technology and AI capabilities. It looks at different areas that are impacted by AI development and the darker side of it - from the ruined environment due to the mining required for all that chips to the wild use of data and surveillance by the government. Very interesting, very educational read and highly recommended for everyone who is in technology.

For full review, you can go to questofbooks.com

alexlamy's review

4.0

I’ve done it!! This was for my politics of AI class but I actually enjoyed it, very interesting read that demonstrates how AI is part of an existing interconnecting system of power