"In this AI hype era, Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna are here to deliver the well-informed debunking our algorithm overlords deserve." —Annalee Newitz
Third Place Books welcomes Dr. Emily M. Bender and Dr. Alex Hanna for a conversation about their new book, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want. They will be joined by fellow AI researcher Dr. Margaret Mitchell, recognized in 2023 as one of TIME's Most Influential People.
This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!
About The AI Con. . .
A smart, incisive look at the technologies sold as artificial intelligence, the drawbacks and pitfalls of technology sold under this banner, and why it’s crucial to recognize the many ways in which AI hype covers for a small set of power-hungry actors at work and in the world.
Is artificial intelligence going to take over the world? Have big tech scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to put authors, artists, and others out of business? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?
The answer to these questions, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make clear, is “no,” “they wish,” “LOL,” and “definitely not.” This kind of thinking is a symptom of a phenomenon known as “AI hype.” Hype looks and smells fishy: It twists words and helps the rich get richer by justifying data theft, motivating surveillance capitalism, and devaluing human creativity in order to replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. In The AI Con, Bender and Hanna offer a sharp, witty, and wide-ranging take-down of AI hype across its many forms.
Bender and Hanna show you how to spot AI hype, how to deconstruct it, and how to expose the power grabs it aims to hide. Armed with these tools, you will be prepared to push back against AI hype at work, as a consumer in the marketplace, as a skeptical newsreader, and as a citizen holding policymakers to account. Together, Bender and Hanna expose AI hype for what it is: a mask for Big Tech’s drive for profit, with little concern for who it affects.
Praise for The AI Con. . .
"A refreshingly contrarian take on AI and the clouds of hyperbole surrounding it."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A fascinating and thought-provoking analysis of one of the most charged debates in the world."
—Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus
"In The AI Con, Bender and Hanna deliver a hard-hitting, no-nonsense takedown of the so-called 'artificial intelligence revolution.' Far from the sci-fi fantasy of machines thinking for themselves, this book shows how tech giants are using AI as a cover for their real agenda: data exploitation, surveillance, and a race to replace human labor with soulless automation. With irreverence and razor-sharp analysis, Bender and Hanna dismantle the hype and arm readers with the tools to see through the corporate doublespeak. This isn’t just about debunking myths—it’s about reclaiming control over the future that’s being sold to us."
—Ruha Benjamin, author of Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want
Dr. Emily M. Bender is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington where she is also the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master of Science program and affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School. In 2023, she was included in the inaugural Time 100 list of the most influential people in AI. She is frequently consulted by policymakers, from municipal officials to the federal government to the United Nations, for insight into how to understand so-called AI technologies. (Photo credit: Susan Doupé)
Dr. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and a Lecturer in the School of Information at the University of California Berkeley. She is an outspoken critic of the tech industry, a proponent of community-based uses of technology, and a highly sought-after speaker and expert who has been featured across the media, including articles in the Washington Post, Financial Times, The Atlantic, and Time. (Photo credit: Will Toft)
Dr. Margaret Mitchell is a researcher focused on machine learning (ML) and ethics-informed AI development in tech. She has published over 100 papers on natural language generation, assistive technology, computer vision, and AI ethics, and holds multiple patents in the areas of AI conversation generation and sentiment classification. She has been recognized as one of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics; in TIME's Most Influential People and Most Influential People in AI; and in Business Insider's Top People in AI Policy, Ethics, and Research. She currently works at Hugging Face as a researcher and Chief Ethics Scientist, driving forward work on ML data processing, responsible AI development, and AI ethics. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Aberdeen and a Master's in Computational Linguistics from the University of Washington. She likes gardening, dogs, and cats.
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