The AI Con
Uncovering the hype behind AI and what we can do about it. In The AI Con, Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna offer a sharp, witty, and wide-ranging take-down of AI hype across its many forms.
Praise for The AI Con
Documenting how “mathy maths” AI applications are produced and idealized as useful and thoughtfully critiquing the social, cultural, and technological systems that structure this so-called intelligence, Bender and Hanna have constructed a thorough, witty, and accessible argument against AI that meets the moment.— Library Journal (starred review)
A refreshingly contrarian take on AI and the clouds of hyperbole surrounding it. — Kirkus Reviews
[a] scathing takedown…. AI skeptics will find plenty of fodder for their critiques.— Publisher’s Weekly
The artificial intelligence industry depends on plagiarism, mimicry, and exploited labor, not intelligence…. This is what Bender and Hanna mean by hype. Large language models do not think, and they do not understand. They lack the ability to make mental models of the world and the self. Their promoters elide these distinctions, and much of the press coverage remains credulous.— New York Review of Books
Tracing the roots of AI hype from Cold War militarism to contemporary tech boosterism, the book illustrates how exaggerated promises and apocalyptic fears sustain “the AI con,” fueling economic interests while obscuring the real-world impacts of these technologies on people’s lives.— Science
[Bender and Hanna] are refreshingly sarcastic about what they think is just another tech bubble…. Reliance on AI is … bad for everyone, as Bender and Hanna persuasively argue.— The Guardian
[T]his is the kind of book that makes the broligarchs nervous, written by two of their most formidable critics…. If you ask me, this book should count as a tax deduction. It’s that useful for anyone navigating creative careers under techno-feudalism.— ESC KEY .CO
Many of the arguments that Bender and Hanna make about AI’s detrimental effects on society are compelling – and correct – regardless of whether you think these systems might be more powerful than they suggest… These are all issues of genuine concern that are glaringly missing from discussions in governments and big tech boardrooms.— New Scientist
In many ways, Bender and Hanna successfully demonstrate that AI is a con. It fails at productivity and intelligence, while the hype launders a series of transformations that harm workers, exacerbate inequality and damage the environment.— The Conversation
With a humorous but critical eye, [Bender and Hanna] run through some of the largest AI claims made in the past few years — and how some collapsed on closer inspection. […] Do I believe in hope after hype? A resounding yes.— Nature