The Anti-Fascist Approach to AI

A Conversation with Dan McQuillan

Did you miss us?! The Anti-Dystopians is back from its summer hiatus!

In this episode, I spoke with Dan McQuillan, a Lecturer in Creative & Social Computing in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths University of London and the author the new book “Resisting AI: An Anti-Fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence.” We discussed how AI can obscure political decisions, the dangers of automated bureaucracy and algorithmic cruelty, what Max Weber and Hannah Arendt can tell us about AI, whether AI might bring back eugenics in a new coat, and how to resist AI and fascism across the world.

You can follow Dan on Twitter @danmcquillan or order the book here (psst, if you order it on Hive you can support your local bookstore!).

As always, you can listen to it here or subscribe here (Spotify) or here (Apple Podcasts). If you like us, please rate, review and share the Anti-Dystopians to help us get new listeners. If you want to support the production of the show, you can visit here.

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Further reading from the episode:

• Excerpt from Dan’s book published in Logic Magazine, “Deep Learning and Human Disposability - AI is a technology for managing social murder.”

• More on Australia’s robo-debt scandal

• More on the algorithms and Amazon drivers: Fired by Bot at Amazon: ‘It’s You Against the Machine’

• Science article on dissecting racial bias in an algorithm used to manage the health of populations

• Algorithm Watch, a non-profit research and advocacy organization that is committed to watch, unpack and analyze automated decision-making (ADM) systems and their impact on society

• David Columbia on Artificial General Intelligence and White Supremacy

• And, finally, that infamous AI interpretation of salmon swimming in a river . . . .

  Victor Ciura @ciura_victor

  That 🎨DALL E 2 is amazing! “Salmon in the river” 😄 Training is everything… #dalle #AI #ML

  

  

  

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What I’ve been reading

• If you’ve been seeing William MacAskill’s promo tour for his book about longtermism, you should definitely read Emile Torres’s critique of the movement

• Chris Gilliard in the Atlantic on the rise of Amazon’s luxury surveillance and how we’ve bought our own dystopia devices

• Rent Going Up? ProPublica on how One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why.

• The Anti-Dystopian’s favorite guest Matt Mahmoudi in the NY Daily on how the NYPD is hiding its surveillance of Black Lives Matter

• Detailing the saga of how Elon Musk so kindly offered Starlink satellite use in Ukraine, then tweeted out a poll for a pro-Russia peace plan, got told to literally f** off by a Ukrainian diplomat, then suddenly found he didn’t have the money to support Starling in Ukraine anymore (even though state subsidies are funding it anyways) 🙄

• If you are in Cambridge or Oxford, I highly recommend taking one of the Uncomfortable Cambridge or Uncomfortable Oxford tours that explore the historic legacies of injustice in these universities and how we can confront them

• Also recommend Jon Stewart’s interview completing dismantling the logic and preparation of the Arkansas AG about their laws targeting trans kids

• When Jeff Bezos brought Star Trek actor William Shatner to space, he thought it would be a great PR move: instead, Shatner detailed in Variety magazine how the journey made him depressed:

  Dr Ellie Armstrong (she/her) @EllieTheElement

  Shatner in Variety:

  

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Important Tweet of the Week

If you are in Cambridge, UK today, please do come along to a vigil in solidarity with protestors in Iran.

Niyousha Bastani @bniyoush

bit.ly/iran-vigil-cam Cambridge vigil in solidarity with Women, Students, Protesters in Iran. This Wednesday. Please come & bring a sign that reads Women, Life, Freedom, in a language that is important to you.🤍

bit.lyVigil in Solidarity with Women, Students, Protesters in IranA vigil in solidarity with protesters in Iran. Bring a sign that reads ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ in any language that is important to you.

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Tweet(s) of the Week

matty matt @noetic_emetic

legs are coming soon