Feeding the Machine - by Callum Cant & James Muldoon & Mark Graham (Hardcover)

About the Book

"First published in 2024 in Great Britain by Canongate Books Ltd"--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

For readers of Naomi Klein and Nicole Perlroth, a myth-dissolving exposé of how artificial intelligence exploits human labor, and a resounding argument for a more equitable digital future.

Silicon Valley has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions laboring under often appalling conditions to make A.I. possible. This book presents an urgent, riveting investigation of the intricate network that maintains this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of A.I.

Based on hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of fieldwork over more than a decade, Feeding the Machine describes the lives of the workers deliberately concealed from view, and the power structures that determine their future. It gives voice to the people whom A.I. exploits, from accomplished writers and artists to the armies of data annotators, content moderators and warehouse workers, revealing how their dangerous, low-paid labor is connected to longer histories of gendered, racialized, and colonial exploitation.

A.I. is an extraction machine that feeds off humanity's collective effort and intelligence, churning through ever-larger datasets to power its algorithms. This book is a call to arms that details what we need to do to fight for a more just digital future.

Review Quotes

"AI depends on the exploitation of artists, data annotators, and engineers, among others, according to this damning exposé . . . The grim real-life stories read like dystopian parables." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Muldoon, Graham, and Cant . . . look beneath the hood of some of technology's most heralded advances brings to public awareness critical issues regarding AI, its colonial roots, and its exploitative tendencies that society would do well to discuss and debate sooner rather than later . . . sobering and timely." --Kirkus Reviews

"Feeding the Machine may just be the most important book to be written in the current fever of A.I. publishing. It shines a light into the darkest corners of this 'revolution, ' revealing the enormous human cost behind the giant servers and grinding labor farms that exploit and abuse the human spirit. I urge anyone who uses, harnesses, or leverages A.I. to read this." --Stephen Fry

"I had no idea of the dark, tangled world of human exploitation and corporate greed that is fueling the growth of A.I. . . . If you think-as I once did-that the Internet is a kind of 'free lunch, ' you need to read this extraordinary and essential book." --Brian Eno

"This new book shows how there is not only a looming energy crisis keeping A.I. running, but there is also a global sweatshop that enables it to exist as well . . . informative and entertaining." --Daily Kos

About the Author

James Muldoon, Mark Graham, and Callum Cant are based together at the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University, where Dr. Graham is a Professor of Internet Geography and Director of Fairwork, a global digital labor rights project active in the United States and 37 other countries. He has written for the Atlantic and the Guardian. Dr. Cant is the author of Riding for Deliveroo, the first ethnographic book on online food delivery. Dr. Muldoon is Associate Professor of Management at the University of Essex.