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120 reviews for:
The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want
Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna
4.13 AVERAGE
120 reviews for:
The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want
Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna
4.13 AVERAGE
Short but very informative, good introduction to the topic, definitely recommend!
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
With how big and seemingly unbeatable the creep of AI tech into our lives is, this book rips away the curtain that obscures what AI actually is: Bullshit.
As someone who has unknowingly contributed to the development of AI via the colossal amount of human labour needing to be done for it (i needed money and had no job, and so became a data worker without even realising it was for AI), it's not hard to see that AI is a scam. Even so, I fell for it. It can be such a useful and convenient tool and that's true. But we need to know the truth of what it is, how it can be used, how it cannot be used, and how ethically it was produced before we decide to use it. And yes, we should be given the choice to use it (or be used by it, as our data could be used without us knowing it), instead of having work places force us to.
I think everyone should read this book or something like it. It's only in this way that we can begin to fight the tech bigwigs who are trying to convince us that we can't live without AI, even while it dumbs us down, demeans and dehumanises us, and leave the world growing hotter.
As someone who has unknowingly contributed to the development of AI via the colossal amount of human labour needing to be done for it (i needed money and had no job, and so became a data worker without even realising it was for AI), it's not hard to see that AI is a scam. Even so, I fell for it. It can be such a useful and convenient tool and that's true. But we need to know the truth of what it is, how it can be used, how it cannot be used, and how ethically it was produced before we decide to use it. And yes, we should be given the choice to use it (or be used by it, as our data could be used without us knowing it), instead of having work places force us to.
I think everyone should read this book or something like it. It's only in this way that we can begin to fight the tech bigwigs who are trying to convince us that we can't live without AI, even while it dumbs us down, demeans and dehumanises us, and leave the world growing hotter.
challenging
dark
funny
informative
fast-paced
challenging
informative
fast-paced
I’m admittedly coming into this looking for confirmation of my existing biases. I think there are a lot of solid points and stories contained, so I recommend it, but the authors got in their own way too often to rate higher. Some points were rushed and every one seemed to eventually come down to rejecting AI because of bias. Yup, bias is a problem, but we don’t need that point 35 times (you wish I was exaggerating). But it also drove home the point of how much of the AI debate boils down to what it means to be human. It’s important for all of us to figure that out and be ready to defend it.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced