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.