AI for Everyone?: Critical Perspectives

Pieter Verdegem

Sep 2021 · Critical, Digital and Social Media Studies Book 21 · University of Westminster Press

About this ebook

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.

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About the author

Pieter Verdegem is Senior Lecturer in Media Theory in the Westminster School of Media and Communication and a member of the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster, UK. His research investigates the political economy of digital media and the impact of digital technologies on society. He has published in journals such as New Media & Society, Information, Communication & Society, European Journal of Communication, Telecommunications Policy, Government Information Quarterly. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.