The AI Con

The AI Con

by Alex Hanna and Emily M. Bender
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 22/05/2025

Share This eBook:

  $21.99

'The blizzard of excitement, misinformation and pure hype around AI has driven many of us to want an honest guide. If, like me, you’re one of those many, you need to read this book' BRIAN ENO


Is AI going to take over the world? Have scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to replace all our jobs? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?


The answers to these questions, as the expert authors of The AI Con make clear, are 'no', 'they wish', 'LOL', and 'definitely not'. In fact, these fears are all symptoms of the hype being used by tech corporations to justify data theft, motivate surveillance capitalism, and devalue human creativity.


Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, The AI Con arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation and power-grabs it aims to hide, and push back against it at work and in your daily life.


‘A book to inoculate your mind against Big Tech’s AI utopian hype’ Yanis Varoufakis


‘Hanna and Bender provide the clearest picture yet of what AI is, what it is not, and why none of us need to accept it’ Timnit Gebru


‘A powerful antidote. The authors show that these technologies will serve to deepen existing inequalities, and further 'enshittify' life and work for the vast majority of people’ Grace Blakeley


‘Truly eye-opening. An indispensable “field manual” for those who want to fight for a more humane economy and a better society’ Ha-Joon Chang


‘Fascinating and thought-provoking’ Johann Hari


‘A must-read’ Aleks Krotoski

ISBN:
9781529949896
9781529949896
Category:
Impact of science & technology on society
Format:
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date:
22-05-2025
Language:
English
Publisher:
Vintage Publishing
Alex Hanna

Dr Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and a former senior research scientist on Google's Ethical AI team. She is an outspoken critic of the tech industry and a proponent of community-based uses of technology.

Available for download after 22/05/2025

Reviews

Be the first to review The AI Con.