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Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, yet it causes damage to society in ways that can’t be fixed. Instead of helping to address our current crises, AI causes divisions that limit people’s life chances, and even suggests fascistic solutions to social problems. This book provides an analysis of AI’s deep learning technology and its political effects and traces the ways that it resonates with contemporary political and social currents, from global austerity to the rise of the far right. Dan McQuillan calls for us to resist AI as we know it and restructure it by prioritising the common good over algorithmic optimisation. He sets out an anti-fascist approach to AI that replaces exclusions with caring, proposes people’s councils as a way to restructure AI through mutual aid and outlines new mechanisms that would adapt to changing times by supporting collective freedom. Academically rigorous, yet accessible to a socially engaged readership, this unique book will be of interest to all who wish to challenge the social logic of AI by reasserting the importance of the common good.
190 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 15, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 15, 2023
Fantastic explanation about how AI works and how it reinforces the status quo. It is a dangerous technology not because AI is, or going to be, sentient, but because AI is riddled with racism, sexism, ablism, and ageism and is easily used for eugenics, white supremacy, and fascism in the guise of "logical" computing. AI is not unbiased. The book goes on to propose ways to resist AI, and while the proposals are good, they require complete systemic change in order to work. There is no advice for how to resist AI on a day-t0-day or local level. Perhaps because that sort of resistance isn't possible? It's not clear. But it is a good, thought-provoking book.
January 7, 2023
A bit repetitive in the end, but overall good. I think it is nice to always take into account who are the "collateral damages" of this new era.
April 21, 2023
A radical approach to AI that I have yet to encounter - a very refreshing take on an movement that often focuses on reform rather than abolition. Arguments have stuck with me for a long time and I frequently go back to my notes on this one. I have also listening to him talk on 'Tech Won't Save Us' - which is worth a listen!
August 24, 2023
Amazing book which unexpectedly changed my life in some ways.
Definitely recommended reading for all interested in AI.
Definitely recommended reading for all interested in AI.
January 5, 2023
Really stands out amidst the several books on AI ethics. This is quite an amazing book, and the perspectives used are very enlightening. This uses a very marxist-aligned viewpoint of AI as automation, and argues why AI is underpinned by an ethos of highlighting boundaries and attenuating the expression of interdependencies. The critique used here is very sharp and to the point, with a generous sprinkling of various real-world scenarios that highlight the point. It eventually ends with a few chapters on how a new anti-fascist approach to AI design could be reimagined. The book clearly states what should be the foundational ethos of an anti-fascist approach to AI, one of which is fraternity and reciprocity. It seeks to take the carceral ethos out of AI in a very deep sense, and says how AI could flourish while allowing human beings to remain human.
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February 5, 2024Charts AI as solutionism, and as reinforcement rather than challenge of society's ills and norms, then pursues some ways and forms in which communities can resist the structures created and maintained by AI. Good quick read
May 5, 2023
Good points in this book, but the writing itself was a slog, and it ended up feeling both repetitive and a bit vague. For a piece making a similar argument in MUCH more clear and approachable language, see Ted Chiang's piece in the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/science/ann...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews