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What If We Got AI Right? by Eleanor Drage review – avoiding apocalypse
This is a Guardian review of Eleanor Drage's book "What If We Got AI Right?", which sets out to challenge Silicon Valley's binary narrative that artificial intelligence will either usher in utopia or trigger apocalypse. Drage, a researcher at Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, argues that AI is not some mystical force but the product of tangible human labour, and that big tech cannot deliver on its grand promises while prioritising profit and power. The reviewer finds this argument compelling but says the book ultimately falls short of providing the meaningful answers its title promises.
The review credits Drage's research exposing bias in AI-driven recruitment and policing, and praises her philosophical exploration of how "intelligence" is defined and why that matters. However, it criticises some arguments as rushed and sloppy, singling out her claim that job losses are illusory because work merely "shifts" from artists to data labellers, which the reviewer says glosses over the reality of poorly paid data labellers in Kenya. It also flags her dismissal of unconscious bias as unconvincing, arguing that treating intent as irrelevant undercuts her own emphasis on diversity in AI.
In short
- Guardian review of Eleanor Drage's AI ethics book "What If We Got AI Right?"
- Book argues big tech can't deliver utopia while chasing profit and power
- Reviewer praises ideas but says some arguments feel rushed and unconvincing
Explained simply
Eleanor Drage is a researcher at Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. Her book What If We Got AI Right? challenges how people in Silicon Valley typically discuss artificial intelligence. Rather than debating whether AI will either save or destroy humanity, Drage argues that this binary choice obscures what actually matters.
Drage contends that artificial intelligence is not a mystical or inevitable force, but a product of human labour, design choices and corporate decision-making. She argues that large technology companies cannot deliver on their transformative promises about AI whilst prioritising profit and power. Her research has documented real harms from bias in AI systems used in recruitment and policing.
How we define intelligence affects how AI systems are designed and deployed. These technologies now influence who gets hired, how people are policed, and what information people encounter. These are the practical questions at the centre of Drage's book.
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