The Atlas of AI

An urgent book that reveals how the extractive systems of

artificial intelligence are remaking our world—with profound

political consequences

What happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes

the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our societies? Drawing on more than a decade of original research, award-winning

science and ...

An urgent book that reveals how the extractive systems of

artificial intelligence are remaking our world—with profound

political consequences

What happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes

the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our societies? Drawing on more than a decade of original research, award-winning

science and technology scholar Kate Crawford reveals how AI is a technology

of extraction: from the energy and minerals needed to build and sustain its

infrastructure, to the exploited workers behind “automated” services, to the

data AI collects from us. She persuasively argues that this network is fueling

a shift toward undemocratic governance. This book is an eye-opening story

of how a few are making powerful infrastructures, at the expense of the many.

Rather than taking a narrow focus on code and algorithms, Crawford offers us a

planetary perspective on what it takes to make AI. The window of opportunity

for change is rapidly closing and the stakes—for justice, due process, and democratic participation—could not be higher.

Kate Crawford is a distinguished research professor at New York University, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, and the inaugural chair of AI and Justice at the École Normale Supérieure. She is co-founder and co-director of the AI Now Institute at New York University. Her work has appeared in Nature, The New York Times, and Harper’s Magazine. She lives in New York Cit...

Kate Crawford is a distinguished research professor at New York University, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, and the inaugural chair of AI and Justice at the École Normale Supérieure. She is co-founder and co-director of the AI Now Institute at New York University. Her work has appeared in Nature, The New York Times, and Harper’s Magazine. She lives in New York City.