From the Publisher
“A timely, thought-provoking, and distinct contribution to a fast-growing and crowded debate. It does an admirable job of bridging several disciplinary divides while maintaining a clear perspective.”—Reuben Binns, University of Oxford“A sophisticated, politically, technologically, and economically informed manifesto for how to regulate big tech.”—John Zerilli, University of Oxford, author of A Citizen’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence
“If you have any concerns about the growing and pervasive impact of algorithms on society—and you should be concerned about how machine learning tools amplify and perpetuate unfairness, surveillance, and distrust—this is the book you need. Cogent and wise, bridging computer science, law and politics, it reveals human choices within machine learning used by public and private bureaucracies and dominant social media. And it identifies feasible approaches to reclaim accountability and public good.”
—Martha Minow, Harvard University, author of When Should Law Forgive?
“Simons makes a provocative and persuasive case which shows that AI and machine learning are tools used to make decisions that shape our lives, whether by companies, courts or welfare agencies. It is not enough for these systems to be ‘efficient’ or ‘effective’—they must also reflect social values. By identifying approaches and tradeoffs that are rarely seen and often misunderstood,
Algorithms for the People should become essential reading for technologists, corporate executives, ethicists and policymakers.”—
Elliot Schrage, former VP, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google“This lucid and broadly informed book revives the philosophy of John Dewey that was central to inspiring the original internet to tackle the regulation of machine learning and monopolistic platforms that harness it to capture the digital public square the internet created. As Dewey saw and as this book urgently demonstrates, democracy must advance with technology to survive.” —
Glen Weyl, Microsoft Research, coauthor of Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society
