CAMRI | AI for Everyone?

AI for Everyone?

A Book by Pieter Verdegem, published by University of Westminster Press

We are entering a new era of technological determinism and solutionism in which governments and business actors are seeking data-driven change, assuming that Artificial Intelligence is now inevitable and ubiquitous. But we have not even started asking the right questions, let alone developed an understanding of the consequences. Urgently needed is debate that asks and answers fundamental questions about power. This book brings together critical interrogations of what constitutes AI, its impact and its inequalities in order to offer an analysis of what it means for AI to deliver benefits for everyone. The book is structured in three parts: Part 1, AI: Humans vs. Machines, presents critical perspectives on human-machine dualism. Part 2, Discourses and Myths About AI, excavates metaphors and policies to ask normative questions about what is ‘desirable’ AI and what conditions make this possible. Part 3, AI Power and Inequalities, discusses how the implementation of AI creates important challenges that urgently need to be addressed. Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and regional contexts, this book offers a vital intervention on one of the most hyped concepts of our times.

Introduction: Why We Need Critical Perspectives on AI
Pieter Verdegem

Artificial Intelligence (AI): When Humans and Machines Might Have to Coexist
Andreas Kaplan

Digital Humanism: Epistemological, Ontological and Praxiological Foundations
Wolfgang Hofkirchner

An Alternative Rationalisation of Creative AI by De-Familiarising Creativity: Towards an Intelligibility of Its Own Terms
Jenna Ng

Post-Humanism, Mutual Aid
Dan McQuillan

The Language Labyrinth: Constructive Critique on the Terminology Used in the AI Discourse
Rainer Rehak

AI Ethics Needs Good Data
Angela Daly et al.

The Social Reconfiguration of Artificial Intelligence: Utility and Feasibility
James Steinhoff

Creating the Technological Saviour: Discourses on AI in Europe and the Legitimation of Super Capitalism
Benedetta Brevini

AI Bugs and Failures: How and Why to Render AI-Algorithms More Human?
Alkim Almila Akdag Salah

Primed Prediction: A Critical Examination of the Consequences of Exclusion of the Ontological Now in AI Protocol
Carrie O’Connell & Chad Van de Wiele

Algorithmic Logic in Digital Capitalism
Jernej A. Prodnik

‘Not Ready for Prime Time’: Biometrics and Biopolitics in the (Un)Making of California’s Facial Recognition Ban
Asvatha Babu & Saif Shahin

Beyond Mechanical Turk: The Work of Brazilians on Global AI Platforms
Rafael Grohmann & Willian Fernandes Araújo

Towards Data Justice Unionism? A Labour Perspective on AI Governance
Lina Dencik

Image: University of Westminster Press

About Pieter Verdegem

Dr Pieter Verdegem is Reader in Technology and Society in the Westminster School of Media and Communication and member of CAMRI (the Communication and Media Research Institute).

His research investigates the political economy of media and communication and the impact of digital technologies on society.

He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and teaches core undergraduate and postgraduate modules every year.

Prior to joining the Westminster School of Media and Communication, he was Assistant Professor in New Media and ICT in the Department of Communication Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium (2012-2016) and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University, Sweden (2011-2012). He holds a PhD in Communication Sciences from Ghent University.