Book Review
Man-Made
by Tracey Spicer
Whether AI is something you are not interested in, or if it’s something you want to know more about, Tracey Spicer’s Man-Made is essential reading. I first started to think about the implications of Artificial Intelligence when I heard a comment on the radio to the effect that Elon Musk was warning about the inherent dangers of a technology that is widely used in military applications. If this type of AI decided humans were a threat: kaput, goodbye. Up to that point, it seemed to me most AI was being used in dubious commercial applications – which some of it is.
Ridiculously, historical data is used to program AIs – historical data that is essentially biased towards white males, hence the book’s subtitle. This has far- reaching consequences in many areas such as medicine, health, and criminal justice. Spicer’s research regarding gender and race inequality, and the deeply pervasive and destructive misogyny that women experience online, working in technology, or as a result of technology (e.g. cyber stalking and deepfake applications) is depressing.
AI clearly has the potential to do a lot of good, however the disregard humans have for other humans permeates this field like feudalism on steroids. Our smart phones and tablets are built on blood, sweat, misery and forced labour. Add to this the outsourcing of repetitive data work and that equals a massive proportion of the global population being ruthlessly exploited in a sector which boasts the richest people in the world.
Spicer has clearly put a lot of time and passion into this book; it’s highly readable and full of positivity as well. There is good work being done by many with humour and creativity – the Algorithmic Justice League, for instance – and Spicer sources useful advice regarding actions we all need to take to participate in a future worth living.
