Artificial intelligence is already playing a powerful role in our lives, whether we realize it or not—from the devices we use every day or facial-recognition software trained on internet databases. It may seem nebulous, but it’s crucial that we understand it so that we can regain control. A world-renowned scholar of AI and its social impacts, Kate Crawford knows that although AI can be used to exploit people and resources, we can still use it to lay the foundation for a better world.
Kate is the award-winning author of Atlas of AI, a uniquely grounded look at the processes and resources that give AI form. In it, she maps out the physical landscape of AI, as well as its future, to help us understand what’s at stake and how we can take control of this fast-developing technology. Like a physical atlas, the book helps us understand the landscape of AI, the pathways that connect it, and where we fit into this vast technological world.
For over two decades, Kate has been on the cutting edge of research into large-scale data systems, machine learning, and the context in which our technology operates. She’s travelled the world to investigate the places and people that make AI what it is, from lithium mines to Amazon warehouses to Jeff Bezos’s rocket base. She’s also advised policymakers from the White House to the United Nations, and has created award-winning collaborative projects with major artists around the world.
Watch Kate explain why she uses the visual of an atlas to map out the landscape of AI:
