Artificial Unintelligence, Meredith Broussard
Artificial Unintelligence, Meredith Broussard
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Artificial Unintelligence
How Computers Misunderstand the World

Author: Meredith Broussard

Narrator: Andrea Emmes

Unabridged: 7 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/22/2019


Synopsis

In Artificial Unintelligence, Meredith Broussard argues that our collective enthusiasm for applying computer technology to every aspect of life has resulted in a tremendous amount of poorly designed systems. We are so eager to do everything digitally—hiring, driving, paying bills, even choosing romantic partners—that we have stopped demanding that our technology actually work. Broussard, a software developer and journalist, reminds us that there are fundamental limits to what we can (and should) do with technology.

Making a case against technochauvinism—the belief that technology is always the solution—Broussard argues that it's just not true that social problems would inevitably retreat before a digitally enabled Utopia. To prove her point, she undertakes a series of adventures in computer programming. She goes for an alarming ride in a driverless car; uses artificial intelligence to investigate why students can't pass standardized tests; deploys machine learning to predict which passengers survived the Titanic disaster; and attempts to repair the U.S. campaign finance system by building AI software. If we understand the limits of what we can do with technology, Broussard tells us, we can make better choices about what we should do with it to make the world better for everyone.

About Meredith Broussard

Meredith Broussard is associate professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University and research director at the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology. She is the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World. Her work has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic, BBC, Wired, the Economist, and more. She appears in the 2020 documentary Coded Bias and serves on the advisory board for the Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Gary on May 02, 2018

This book may easily win the prize for the best book that no one wants to read. And that is precisely why it is the one book that everyone must read. Meredith Broussard is a coder, educator, and a computational journalist that specializes in algorithmic accountability reporting. Which is to say that......more

Goodreads review by Peter on June 08, 2018

A long, meandering read in the Malcolm Gladwell style that takes a long time to make it's point and then doesn't make the point strongly enough. Needs a good edit.......more

Goodreads review by Muromets on November 21, 2018

While the book title and premise offers a compelling contrarian angle on an overwhelmingly positive view of AI and the blind adoption of the idea it will be the saviour of our times, the story actually told seems at the very least confused, or at worst, short-sighted. The author's tone is one filled......more

Goodreads review by Mara on July 10, 2020

Lots of thoughts on this book, but, since I don't have the time, here's a lovely term Meredith Broussard introduces: Technochauvinism is often accompanied by fellow-traveler beliefs such as Ayn Randian meritocracy; technolibertarian political values; celebrating free speech to the extent of denyin......more

Goodreads review by Nelson on August 13, 2023

An interesting book, but too centred on the author's perspective, which uses much of the current ideological argumentation to attack the world of technology and computing. I tend to take this argument well, but the discourse becomes poor without a view from the other side. Still, Broussard does a re......more