Overview

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is pervasive yet its implications for society are still poorly understood. In this timely call to action, Dan McQuillan provides an analysis of AI's technology and its political effects. He traces the ways that AI resonates with contemporary political and social currents, from global austerity to the rise of the far right. Placing it alongside other modes of ordering, such as bureaucracy and speculative finance, he examines AI's intensification of social crisis and states of emergency. Most importantly, he offers the reader an alternative vision of an anti-fascist AI rooted in feminist and decolonial politics, addressing matters of care through mutual aid and solidarity. He invites us to play an active part in AI's structural renewal through mechanisms like workers' and people's councils. Academically rigorous, yet accessible to a socially engaged readership, this unique book will be of interest to all who wish to challenge the social logic of AI by reasserting the importance of the common good.

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9781529213508

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Reviews

A lucid take-down of AI, forcing us to reckon with the consequences of AI's inherent logics and its standing in society. This is a passionate call to action from one of the most interesting thinkers on the subject. Lina Dencik, Data Justice Lab, Cardiff University Rethinks AI from the ground up. It is not corporate 'ethics' that AI needs, but far-reaching politics, reworking AI not as a 'revolutionary technology' but as a technology for revolution. Matthew Fuller, Goldsmiths, University of London A new counter-culture is developing against the knowledge regime imposed by AI. McQuillan's book is a precocious sign of this new movement. Matteo Pasquinelli, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design An invaluable materialist thinking-through of AI. McQuillan's clarity, creativity, and close attention to technical detail make this an exceptional contribution to the ongoing task of trying to figure out what to do about computers. Ben Tarnoff, Logic magazine and author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future With analytical and moral clarity, McQuillan makes the case for recognising the radical politics of AI and meeting its goose step march head-on. Jathan Sadowski, Monash University

"""A lucid take-down of AI, forcing us to reckon with the consequences of AI's inherent logics and its standing in society. This is a passionate call to action from one of the most interesting thinkers on the subject."" Lina Dencik, Data Justice Lab, Cardiff University ""Rethinks AI from the ground up. It is not corporate 'ethics' that AI needs, but far-reaching politics, reworking AI not as a 'revolutionary technology' but as a technology for revolution."" Matthew Fuller, Goldsmiths, University of London ""A new counter-culture is developing against the knowledge regime imposed by AI. McQuillan's book is a precocious sign of this new movement."" Matteo Pasquinelli, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design ""An invaluable materialist thinking-through of AI. McQuillan's clarity, creativity, and close attention to technical detail make this an exceptional contribution to the ongoing task of trying to figure out what to do about computers."" Ben Tarnoff, Logic magazine and author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future ""With analytical and moral clarity, McQuillan makes the case for recognising the radical politics of AI and meeting its goose step march head-on."" Jathan Sadowski, Monash University"

"""Resisting AI is an important and necessary book... McQuillan has provided us with a powerful contribution."" Computational Impacts"

"""To me this is a truly unique and timely contribution to major contemporary debates across many critical fields."" International Journal of Communication"

Author Information

Dan McQuillan is a Lecturer in Creative and Social Computing. He has a degree in Physics from Oxford and a PhD in Experimental Particle Physics from Imperial College, London. After his PhD he was a support worker for people with learning disabilities and volunteered as a mental health advocate, informing people in psychiatric detention about their rights. In the early days of the world wide web, he started a pioneering website to provide translated information for asylum seekers and refugees. When open source hardware sensors started appearing he co-founded a citizen science project in Kosovo, supporting politically excluded young people to measure pollution levels and get the issue of air quality onto their national agenda. After a stint working in the NHS he joined Amnesty International and created their first digital directorate. Dan has been involved in many grassroots social movements such as the campaign against the Poll Tax in the UK, and in environmental activism. He was part of the international movement in Genoa in 2001 which was protesting against the G8 and calling for an alternative globalisation that included justice for both people and planet. During the first wave of Covid-19 he helped to start a local mutual aid group where he lives in North London. He can be contacted on resistingai@gmail.com.

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