A review by readingspells
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia

informative fast-paced

5.0

First of all let me say this is a very accessible read. I am sure lots of people look at this and think it will be too tech heavy and complex for them but it is not like that at all. The author does a great job of writing a book that uses layman terms and narrative to talk about AI and the issues surrounding it.

If you think you are not interested in AI or a not effected by its use then you are wrong. If you are online, then AI is part of your life and knowing what is going on, the challenges, the ethics, the owners/creators and the potential for it to be used for good but also quite frankly evil is important if we as a humanity are to use it in a way that does not for the world as opposed to bad.

I really liked how the author used real people to illustrate different AL uses and how those uses have impacted them and their communities whether that was for bad or for good. She also does a great job of explaining how AI is not really AI but if a vast version of predictive text and how much of the issues around AI are the result of failure to have enough human oversight/interaction. Also tech geeks who design this stuff are not the best at considering the ethic of what they are making/developing.

AI is mostly being developed on the backs on free and marginalised/vulnerable labour. Like all industrial revelations (or in this case a Tech Revolution) the few are using the work of the many to make themselves very rich and by default very powerful

I urge you to read this book. Unless we all know and understand how our small actions feed this machine we are contributing to the harms it is potentially doing.