Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Work, and Algorithms | Matteo Pasquinelli and Richard Hames

What is AI? A dominant view describes it as the quest "to solve intelligence"—a solution supposedly to be found in the secret logic of the mind, such as in its complex neural networks. Matteo Pasquinelli argues, to the contrary, that the inner code of AI is shaped not by the imitation of biological intelligence, but the intelligence of labour and social relations. Here he is interviewed by Richard Hames, audio producer at Novara Media. Matteo Pasquinelli's new book, The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence, is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/products/7... Matteo Pasquinelli is associate professor in Philosophy of Science at the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. His writing has appeared in AI and Society, e-flux, Multitudes, Radical Philosophy, and the South Atlantic Quarterly, amongst other journals. 0:00 Intro 0:39 What is an algorithm 6:03 Algorithms are social not natural 8:56 Large language models (ChatGPT) 13:09 AI and the social division of labour 16:26 Babbage and machines 18:00 IQ tests and psychometrics 19:39 AI and automation 26:39 All labour is logic 29:30 Measuring intelligence is reductive 35:07 What is the political response? Provincialising AI 37:59 AI as a snapshot 43:32 AI vs actual humanity 45:41 Connectionism and AI utopianism 49:58 Research, regulation and risk