AI and Humanity

by Illah Reza Nourbakhsh, Jennifer Keating

An examination of the implications for society of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence systems, combining a humanities perspective with technical analysis; includes exercises and discussion questions.AI and Humanity provides an analytical framing and a common language for understanding the effects of technological advances in artificial intelligence on society. Coauthored by a computer scientist and a scholar of literature and cultural studies, it is unique in combining a humanities perspective with technical analysis, using the tools of literary explication to examine the societal impact of AI systems. It explores the historical development of these technologies, moving from the apparently benign Roomba to the considerably more sinister semi-autonomous weapon system Harpy.
The book is driven by an exploration of the cultural and etymological roots of a series of keywords relevant to both AI and society. Works examined range from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, given a close reading for its themes of literacy and agency, to Simon Head's critique of the effects of surveillance and automation on the Amazon labor force in Mindless.

Originally developed as a textbook for an interdisciplinary humanities-science course at Carnegie Mellon, AI & Humanity offers discussion questions, exercises (including journal writing and concept mapping), and reading lists. A companion website provides updated resources and a portal to a video archive of interviews with AI scientists, sociologists, literary theorists, and others.

160 pages, Hardcover

Published March 10, 2020

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea behind this book is great. The authors have put together a combined literature/computer science course on artificial intelligence, which they have successfully trialled in their universities. This book is a reworking of their lectures for the course, with some supplementary materials in the Appendices. In short, I would certainly take inspiration from Nourbakhsh and Keating if I were putting together a course like this, but their suggestions, as presented in this book, are a little underdeveloped.

My full review will appear in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities.

[Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

As we move forward into this millennium technology continues to develop in seen and unseen ways. This book explores the human-machine relationship with an analyses of the technological advances past, present, and future,and how they affect human development. Many important questions are raised about the concept of a posthuman experience as well as the corporate and government entities data collection methods on everyday citizens.