Feeding the Machine
The Hidden Human Labor Powering A.I.
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Feeding the Machine
Narrated by:
Orlando Wells
Buy Now for £15.22
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Narrated by:
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Orlando Wells
For readers of Naomi Klein and Nicole Perlroth, A myth-dissolving exposé of what “artificial intelligence” really means, and a resounding argument for an equitable future of A.I.
Silicon Valley has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions laboring under often appalling conditions to make A.I. possible. This book presents an urgent, riveting investigation of the intricate network that maintains this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of A.I.
Based on hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of fieldwork over more than a decade, Feeding the Machine describes the lives of the workers deliberately concealed from view, and the power structures that determine their future. It gives voice to the people whom A.I. exploits, from accomplished writers and artists to the armies of data annotators, content moderators and warehouse workers, revealing how their dangerous, low-paid labor is connected to longer histories of gendered, racialized, and colonial exploitation.
A.I. is an extraction machine that feeds off humanity’s collective effort and intelligence, churning through ever-larger datasets to power its algorithms. This book is a call to arms that details what we need to do to fight for a more just digital future.(P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic reviews
AI depends on the exploitation of artists, data annotators, and engineers, among others, according to this damning exposé . . . The grim real-life stories read like dystopian parables.
Muldoon, Graham, and Cant . . . look beneath the hood of some of technology’s most heralded advances brings to public awareness critical issues regarding AI, its colonial roots, and its exploitative tendencies that society would do well to discuss and debate sooner rather than later . . . sobering and timely.
Feeding the Machine may just be the most important book to be written in the current fever of A.I. publishing. It shines a light into the darkest corners of this ‘revolution,’ revealing the enormous human cost behind the giant servers and grinding labor farms that exploit and abuse the human spirit. I urge anyone who uses, harnesses, or leverages A.I. to read this.
I had no idea of the dark, tangled world of human exploitation and corporate greed that is fueling the growth of A.I. . . . If you think—as I once did—that the Internet is a kind of ‘free lunch,’ you need to read this extraordinary and essential book.
This new book shows how there is not only a looming energy crisis keeping A.I. running, but there is also a global sweatshop that enables it to exist as well . . . informative and entertaining.
Challenges the notion that artificial intelligence has emerged without human involvement, thoroughly examining the toll AI has taken on the countless unseen workers who were so crucial to its development. Narrator Orlando Wells is superb. Reflecting grit and candor, he recounts the development of AI from the vantage point of its often unheard workers.
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