Atlas of AI

“This study argues that [artificial intelligence] is neither artificial nor particularly intelligent. . . . A fascinating history of the data on which machine-learning systems are trained.”—New Yorker

“Crawford argues passionately that while AI is presented as disembodied, objective and inevitable, it is material, biased and subject to our own outlooks and ideologies.”—David A. Shaywitz, Wall Street Journal

“As Kate Crawford’s trenchant Atlas of AI demonstrates again and again, artificial intelligence does not come to us as a deus ex machina but, rather, through a number of dehumanizing extractive practices, of which most of us are unaware.“—Sue Halpern, New York Review of Books

Named one of the “Five Best Books to Read to Get Smart about AI” by the Wall Street Journal

“One of the world’s most thoughtful researchers on the impact of AI delivers a sobering, but essential, read about how AI is accelerating undemocratic governance and increased inequality.”—John Thornhill, Financial Times, Best Books of 2021

“Exposes the dark side of AI’s success. . . . Meticulously researched and superbly written.”—Virginia Dignum, Nature

“A sweeping view of artificial intelligence that frames the technology as a collection of empires, decisions, and actions that are together fast eliminating possibilities of sustainable future on a global scale. . . . A timely and urgent contribution.”—Michael Spezio, Science

“Reveals the hidden costs of artificial intelligence, from the consumption of natural resources to the more subtle costs to our privacy, equality and freedom.—Simon Ings, New Scientist, “Best Books of the Year”

“A compelling new book.”—Stephanie Wood, Sydney Morning Herald

“Atlas of AI is a seminal work that brings AI within our circle of care. . . . Crawford’s book is a great contribution to the field, as efforts are made at various levels, national and international, in companies and educational institutions, to mitigate the harms of this technology. Crawford underlines that this can only happen if we ‘challenge the structures of power that AI currently reinforces and create the foundations for a different society.’”—Anais Resseguier, AI and Ethics

“Presents an insightful perspective coupled with in-depth analysis. . . . Essential reading for those who are interested in the real-world effects of AI development, along with its political ramifications. More importantly, Atlas of AI draws attention to widely ignored aspects of policy debates, namely the human and planetary costs of AI. This book should be welcomed by AI enthusiasts, students, scholars and policy-makers seeking to grasp the fundamentals of the relationship between AI, politics and society.”—Muhammed Can, International Affairs

“Well-researched, well-written, and enlightening.”—Terry Freedman, Teach Secondary

“Crawford brings the reader on a global journey to places and interventions which have historically played, and continue to play, a key function in developing and maintaining the machinery of artificial intelligence. With a variety of well-illustrated descriptions of environmentally hazardous industries, exploitation of human labour, the origin of deeply biased data sets, and methods of classification, Crawford assists the reader in seeing through the myth of AI.”—Lina Olsson, Metascience

“Atlas of AI is the perfect medium to begin to understand AI. Crawford wisely avoids any form of jargon and her message comes across clear and loud. The book also contains a wide array of notes and references which the more experienced readers will find very useful to go deeper into the several themes that Crawford’s atlas illustrates, but also to find new directions for future research.”—Federico Cugurullo, Technoscienza

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles 2021

Winner of the 2022 Sally Hacker Prize, sponsored by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)

Winner of the 2022 Best Information Science Book of the Year Award, sponsored by ASIS&T

“A must read. Moving from lithium mines to data extraction, from labor exploitation to government surveillance, Atlas of AI eloquently reveals how intelligence is ‘made.’ It displaces anemic calls for ‘ethics’ with probing investigations into the environmental degradation, capital accumulation, and labor conditions that AI make possible.”—Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, SFU’s Canada 150 Chair in New Media

“It’s a masterpiece, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”—Karen Hao, senior editor, MIT Tech Review

“In this eloquent and revelatory survey, Crawford limns the dire stakes of unbridled technological expansion. Methodologically original and keenly intelligent, Atlas of AI is an indispensable map of the present that boldly calls readers to chart a more just and sustainable future.”—Alondra Nelson, president, Social Science Research Council

“Eloquent, clear and profound—this volume is a classic for our times. It draws our attention away from the bright shiny objects of the new colonialism through elucidating the social, material and political dimensions of Artificial Intelligence.”—Geoffrey C. Bowker, University of California, Irvine

“By brilliantly tracing the history, mythology, ethics and politics of artificial intelligence, Atlas of AI reminds us that the stories we tell about AI are just as vital as the mathematical models that comprise these systems.”—Ruha Benjamin, author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code