An Artificial Revolution: On Power, Politics and AI

by Ivana Bartoletti

Overview

AI has unparalleled transformative potential to reshape society, our economies and our working lives, but without legal scrutiny, international oversight and public debate, we are sleepwalking into a future written by algorithms which encode racist, sexist and classist biases into our daily lives – an issue that requires systemic political and cultural change to productively address. Leading privacy expert Ivana Bartoletti exposes the reality of the AI revolution, from the low-paid workers who toil to train algorithms to recognise cancerous polyps, to the rise of techno-racism and techno-chauvinism and the symbiotic relationship between AI and right wing populism. An Artificial Revolution is an essential primer to understand the intersection of technology and geopolitical forces shaping the future of civilisation.• Endorsements confirmed from leading UK political figures including David Lammy MP, Yvette Cooper MP, Paul Mason, Frances O'Grady and Ayesha Hazarika• A primer for anyone who is interested to learn more about the relation between AI and ethics, data and privacy, corporate power, politics and tech• Ivana is a sought-after commentator who has appeared on flagship news programmes on the BBC, Sky and other major broadcasters as a privacy and AI ethics expert, who also speaks at conferences around the world on AI and privacy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911648123
Publisher:	The Indigo Press
Publication date:	05/20/2020
Series:	Mood Indigo
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Ivana Bartoletti is a privacy and ethics expert, and supports businesses in their privacy by design programmes, especially in relation to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology. Ivana is the chair of the Fabian Society, and in 2018 launched the Women Leading in AI Network.

Read an Excerpt

Foreword
This book draws on my experience as a feminist and
as a data and privacy leader, and on my many years
in politics, working with governments, corporations,
international organizations, coders, and policymakers
about data, privacy and artificial intelligence (AI).
I have concluded that technological solutions will
not address the urgent challenges that AI and big data
are bringing to our world.
As a feminist, I feel the need to challenge the myth
of ‘data neutrality’ and to interrogate the gendered
power dynamics that underpin the AI debate. Data is
a form of capital, and it behaves as such, replicating
the dynamics and inequalities of capitalism. Data collection
is in itself an act of choice and, this book will
argue, of violence.
As a privacy leader, I see the concept of privacy as a
collective good being undermined. Our lives are being
invaded by AI-driven algorithms, which increasingly
drive our decisions, our desires and our political opinions.
We are losing both our spontaneous human individuality
and our sense of community as news and information
become increasingly atomized experiences.
As a politician, I know that as AI systems are
increasingly endowed with agency, and algorithms are
progressively replacing policy-making, we will need to
ask fundamental questions about what purpose this is
serving.
Along the way, I will ask why we don’t have an
anti-AI movement like we have had an anti-nuclear
movement. Without controls, oversight and international
law, AI will be just as dangerous, and perhaps
more so.
I must stress that this is not an anti-technology
book – this is a book about technology and politics.
I want people to understand that technology is not neutral.
Technology is behind so much of the polarization
and atomization of public life today, and technology
itself won’t fix this. Only politics will.

Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword 11
Introduction 13
1 What Is AI? 21
2 Challenging the Sanctity of Data 33
3 Algorithms and the Rise of Populism 53
4 AI as Control 73
5 Reshaping Labour 81
6 Why Don’t We Have an Anti-AI Movement? 95
7 Oppression and Resistance 103
8 The Ethics Industry 115
Conclusion:
Political Artefacts Need Political Answers 123
References 127
Acknowledgements 141
About the Author 143

Editorial Reviews

"Bartoletti exhorts us at all times to bring our human intelligence to bear on the potentially dystopian power structures behind AI, writing with clarity, expertise and passion." —Paul Mason, author, PostCapitalism: A Guide to Our Future

'Ivana powerfully exposes the reality of data discrimination and online targeting in society and the danger of AI, as a result, becoming our master not our servant. She also clearly outlines the radical changes to power structures and culture and the embedding of ethics which are necessary in finding the solution.' —Tim Clement-Jones. Lib Dem spokesperson for the digital economy in the House of Lords
 
'An essential read. At a time when we are fighting to put our environment at the top of the political agenda, Ivana Bartoletti lucidly demonstrates how another future for our digital environment is possible.' —Mete Coban, councillor for Stoke Newington
 
'A powerful wake up call. The link between AI, data and power can no longer be ignored, and, unless we take action, society's injustices will be written into all of our futures. Tech should benefit everyone and Bartoletti's book argues passionately for how it could and should improve our burning planet.' —Ayesha Hazarika, broadcaster, journalist and political commentator
 
‘Bartoletti demonstrates the potential for artificial intelligence to encode discrimination of all kinds into algorithmic patterns. Technology can improve our lives, but to harness all its positive potential, she rightly and powerfully insists on public accountability and scrutiny.’ —David Lammy MP
 
‘‘An absorbing and thought-provoking analysis of how technology is transforming our life, and a simple message: workers are far more than something for algorithms to hire or fire. AI holds promises and can make our life better but only if we, citizens, workers and trade unions are involved in the conversation.’ —Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the TUC
 
‘You can’t enter the 20s without reading this book. It hurls a log into the path of the thunderous express train of technology. Bartoletti cuts through the hype of AI and gets to the nub of the problem: data violence. It’s an angry book about the power politics of tech advancement where human rights and personal freedoms are mere collateral damage. Her feminist gaze is sharp on male technocrats using tech tools to manipulate and persuade politically. It is a tale of algorithmic injustice against women, ethnic minorities and people of colour. To say that it is thought provoking would be an underestimate. I am still reeling from its power.’ —Noel Sharkey, emeritus professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield
 

From the Publisher