Abstract
As the editor of AI for Everyone? Critical Perspectives Pieter Verdegem points out in the Introduction to the book, AI is ‘the most recent hype in the world of technological innovation’ (p. 1). Verdegem advocates a tempered debate about AI's risks and opportunities that puts the issue of power ‘at the centre of our conversations about AI’ (p. 2). His edited book is precisely about the relationship between power and AI: ‘what it is and what it is not; what type of AI we need, what visions exist about this and who is behind them; and ultimately, how to think and talk about AI power and inequalities’ (p. 2). Verdegem argues that there should be radical democratisation of AI. The book is split into three main parts. Part I, ‘AI – Humans vs. Machines’ comprises four chapters that explore the history and conceptualisation of AI, and ‘what characterises machine intelligence and how it might be important to further radical humanism in the era of automation and AI’ (p. 2). Part II, ‘Discourses and Myths about AI’, includes five chapters analysing the framing of AI in popular and scholarly discourse, the normative projections of AI and the myths surrounding AI. Part III, ‘AI Power and Inequalities’, has five chapters on ‘how AI capitalism is organised, what (new) inequalities it might bring about and how we can fight back’ (p. 2). All in all, this is an interesting collection posing a lot of food for thought.