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Imagining AI

How the World Sees Intelligent Machines

Stephen Cave editor Kanta Dihal editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:25th May '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Imagining AI cover

Chapters 16, 19 and 21 from this book are published open access and are free to read or download from Oxford Academic AI is now a global phenomenon. Yet Hollywood narratives dominate perceptions of AI in the English-speaking West and beyond, and much of the technology itself is shaped by a disproportionately white, male, US-based elite. However, different cultures have been imagining intelligent machines since long before we could build them, in visions that vary greatly across religious, philosophical, literary and cinematic traditions. This book aims to spotlight these alternative visions. Imagining AI draws attention to the range and variety of visions of a future with intelligent machines and their potential significance for the research, regulation, and implementation of AI. The book is structured geographically, with each chapter presenting insights into how a specific region or culture imagines intelligent machines. The contributors, leading experts from academia and the arts, explore how the encounters between local narratives, digital technologies, and mainstream Western narratives create new imaginaries and insights in different contexts across the globe. The narratives they analyse range from ancient philosophy to contemporary science fiction, and visual art to policy discourse. The book sheds new light on some of the most important themes in AI ethics, from the differences between Chinese and American visions of AI, to digital neo-colonialism. It is an essential work for anyone wishing to understand how different cultural contexts interplay with the most significant technology of our time.

Ranging between philosophy and the humanities to sociology, anthropology and IT, this valuable book not only complements the interdisciplinarity traditionally favoured within cybernetics but also seeks to decolonize the field and emphasize the global futures of AI. * Paul March-Russell, Editor, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction *
Using AI for human flourishing requires better understanding of the global conditions in which the technologies might be deployed and the social values that can emerge from varying cultural contexts. Imagining AI ably brings together scholars, artists, and more into a momentous contribution to scholarship on AI and society. * Robert M Geraci, author of Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S. *
Stories are important indicators of the future. This timely contribution provides a rich basis from which to understand the long global narrative history of AI beyond the anglophone west. This powerful book will be of interest to scholars and publics alike when envisioning a future with AI across cultures. * Jennifer Chubb, Lecturer in Sociology, University of York *
An invaluable resource not only for novice and veteran AI scholars but also for students and experts in the humanities, social sciences, and psychology... Many libraries' collections could benefit from a seminal work like Imagining AI: How the World Sees Intelligent Machines, an essential contribution to a thriving interdisciplinary conversation about AI and intelligent machines... AI experts and scholars will appreciate the wealth of perspectives and lenses that come with global AI narratives * Critical Humanities 2 *

ISBN: 9780192865366

Dimensions: 222mm x 144mm x 26mm

Weight: 738g

448 pages