Vampire AI - by Deepak P (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

AI is sold to us as neutral, inevitable and transformative, but whose interests does it truly serve?

Drawing on Marx's image of capital as a vampire - viciously sucking in living labour - this book shows how AI is deeply entangled with capitalism. From the optimisation choices that embed capitalist ethos within, to the platforms that operationalise bad low-paid work, the book demystifies how AI shapes everyday life.

Vampire AI asks what it would mean to redirect the technology to collective ends, serving people rather than capital. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand and challenge the political economy of artificial intelligence.

Review Quotes

'A vital, unsparing critique of the contemporary AI paradigm. In its sobering analysis, Vampire AI reveals how AI's extractive logic is propagated and normalized through institutions, norms and social relations to reorganize labor and power - essential reading for understanding the political economy of AI'. Madalina Busuioc, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

'This is the best introduction to AI for non-specialists available anywhere. This book sheds essential light on the obscure corners of today's most important technologies. Are machines intelligent? (No.) Can they think? (No.) And - most importantly - find out how powerful interests defraud the public and the state, and hide the exploitation of peoples and the Earth behind a veil of technology-driven misinformation'. Alfredo Saad-Filho, Queen's University Belfast

'Vampire AI stands out from other Marxist analyses of AI by virtue of its theoretical clarity and eminent readability. Rarely has Marx's Gothic heritage been put to such good use as in this lucid account what it will take to drive a stake through the undead heart of AI capitalism--a vital read for vampire-hunters everywhere, whether striking against the automated degradation of work, sabotaging the theft of art or blocking data centre necropoles'. Nick Dyer-Witherford, University of Western Ontario

About the Author

Deepak P is Associate Professor in Artificial Intelligence at Queen's University Belfast and Adjunct Faculty Member at Indian Institute of Technology Madras.