Industrial robots, self-driving cars, customer-service chatbots and Google’s algorithmic predictions have brought the topic of artificial intelligence into public debate. Why is AI the source of such intense controversy and what are its economic, political, social and cultural consequences?

Tracing the changing fortunes of artificial intelligence, Elliott develops a systematic account of how automated intelligent machines impact different spheres and aspects of public and private life. Among the issues discussed are the automation of workforces, surveillance capitalism, warfare and lethal autonomous weapons, the spread of racist robots and the automation of social inequalities. Elliott also considers the decisive role of AI in confronting global risks and social futures, including global pandemics such as COVID-19, and how smart algorithms are impacting the search for energy security and combating climate change.

Making Sense of AI provides a judiciously comprehensive account of artificial intelligence for those with little or no previous knowledge of the topic. It will be an invaluable book both for students in the social sciences and humanities and for general readers.

“[T]he book is an interesting attempt at building a multidimensional account of AI as a social phenomenon. The reading could be particularly useful for social science students and researchers who might be triggered to think of how AI redefines basic human notions like intelligence, privacy, sexuality, autonomy, and trust.”
International Journal of Technoethics

“Anthony Elliott’s books on the social and cultural consequences of the development of artificial intelligence… form a comprehensive, multidimensional picture of the contemporary digital revolution.”
Dariusz Brzeziński, Thesis Eleven

Anthony Elliott is Executive Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and Network at the University of South Australia, where he is Research Professor of Sociology.