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pattireadsalot's review against another edition
4.5
I'm beyond impressed with Murgia's reporting skill in tackling such a massive topic. Instead of this suffering from "dude bro" tech speak, the author highlights various individuals around the world in different jobs that have been affected by AI. She explores AI's uses in medicine, policing, the creative arts, data analysis, and devastation of deepfake images/video. The interviews are far reaching and contain so much thoughtful and balanced discussions on the ways our world is altered by this technology.
nataliecatalie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Code Dependent is a look at the impact AI is having on our lives worldwide. Call me naive, but parts of it were truly shocking - artificially created pornographic images of actual people (let’s be honest, it’s mostly women) can be made and shared at will, there’s nothing illegal about it virtually anywhere in the world. One of my big takeaways from this book was the connections between AI and colonisation - the way first world countries are using labour from the third world, cheaply and with very little concern for worker’s health, well-being or agency.
I worried this book would be too technical for me. That was not the case. It was very humanity focussed, looking at people whose lives had been impacted by AI, for better and for worse. I also appreciated the author’s balanced approach. She clearly had no compunctions highlighting the issues associated with AI - the way facial recognition software is problematic for people of colour for instance - but equally she could see many positives including in the medical field. This book was widely researched, engagingly written and the take home message - proceed but with caution, awareness, and some necessary checks and balances - felt fair, balanced and justified.
felravenn's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.25
This is a highly topical and quite interesting non-fiction on artificial intelligence and the many ways its development has been impacting all kinds of people around the world. Each chapter touches on a different facet of AI, with the latter half focusing on generative AI, building up to a final chapter on ChatGPT and its use over the past couple of years. The crux of this book is that the development and training of all AI tools has been unethical so far - while some people come at it with the best intentions, employees in underdeveloped countries are underpaid and lack workers' rights under the guise of being "lifted out of poverty" by Big Tech; many tech bros developing these technologies don't care that much about the ethics of it all; and generally we need to be careful how we use AI mindlessly.
Overall I found this book interesting and easy to understand. The chapters were gripping and I highlighted quite a lot of passages and sources to come back to and read more on. The author has made her points very digestible, although sometimes I felt they lacked a bit of nuance, or were a little obvious. In particular in the first half I felt the author was a little patronising towards workers, almost saying that they had no idea what their skills were going towards not because of a lack of transparency but just more so "just because". Some of her points were a little underdeveloped but overall still an insightful read that has both caused existential dread and given me some food for thought.
I would recommend this book if you're after a book on the very current topic of artificial intelligence - I particularly liked that it was so up to date. If you're wondering how AI is trained, who is behind it, and the current state of AI ethics, this is the book for you. I would also recommend picking up different books on the topic for a well-rounded opinion on these issues.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Overall I found this book interesting and easy to understand. The chapters were gripping and I highlighted quite a lot of passages and sources to come back to and read more on. The author has made her points very digestible, although sometimes I felt they lacked a bit of nuance, or were a little obvious. In particular in the first half I felt the author was a little patronising towards workers, almost saying that they had no idea what their skills were going towards not because of a lack of transparency but just more so "just because". Some of her points were a little underdeveloped but overall still an insightful read that has both caused existential dread and given me some food for thought.
I would recommend this book if you're after a book on the very current topic of artificial intelligence - I particularly liked that it was so up to date. If you're wondering how AI is trained, who is behind it, and the current state of AI ethics, this is the book for you. I would also recommend picking up different books on the topic for a well-rounded opinion on these issues.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
rebeccagrnwd's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
5.0
amy_park's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Longlisted (and shortlisted) for the women's prize for non-fiction, this book intrigued me from the blurb as it deep dives into AI.
Overall I liked this book, I thought it was a fascinating exploration of AI and the repercussions of the rapid development effecting people in everyday life.
The author writes as an investigative journalist and interviews many people from around the world. Each chapter looks at either a different type of AI I.e deepfakes, facial recognition, algorithms or a community directly effected by AI.
A real humanistic, eyeopening approach, I loved how the topic was explored, but I didn't like the writing style as much I hoped. Some phrases and aspects were repeated frequently and often, which I found jarring towards the end, although this did make the points memorable.
Would recommend as it does make you reflect and question your own personal privacy and use of AI and what this could mean in the future.
Overall I liked this book, I thought it was a fascinating exploration of AI and the repercussions of the rapid development effecting people in everyday life.
The author writes as an investigative journalist and interviews many people from around the world. Each chapter looks at either a different type of AI I.e deepfakes, facial recognition, algorithms or a community directly effected by AI.
A real humanistic, eyeopening approach, I loved how the topic was explored, but I didn't like the writing style as much I hoped. Some phrases and aspects were repeated frequently and often, which I found jarring towards the end, although this did make the points memorable.
Would recommend as it does make you reflect and question your own personal privacy and use of AI and what this could mean in the future.