This is a groundbreaking examination of how power—not technology—will shape life with artificial intelligence (AI). AI is ubiquitous, from everyday internet uses to increasingly critical decision-making in courts, job interviews, and wars. Its pervasive presence is so significant that it can lead to public resignation—a sense that technology is our shared destiny.

As economist Maximilian Kasy demonstrates in his book The Means of Prediction, artificial intelligence, far from being an unstoppable force, is inevitably shaped by human decisions—choices made by the property class that guides its development. Kasy shows that AI technology is not ultimately so complex. It is, however, insidious in its ability to steer outcomes according to the desires and goals of its owners.

Kasy clearly and accessibly explains the fundamental principles on which AI operates, revealing that the true conflict is not between humans and machines, but between those who control the machines and the rest of the world. The Means of Prediction offers a powerful perspective on the future of AI: a future not shaped by technology itself, but by its owners.

Amid a flood of discussions about technical details, new capabilities, and social issues, Kasy focuses on the core question: Who controls the goals of AI, and how is this control maintained? The answer lies in what he calls “the means of prediction,” or the core resources needed to build AI systems: data, computational power, expertise, and energy. As Kasy points out, in a world already defined by inequality, one of humanity’s most important technologies is directed by those already in power.

In response to these risks, Kasy offers a sophisticated framework for understanding AI’s possibilities as well as designing public oversight. He makes a compelling case for democratic control of AI’s goals as a response to growing concerns about AI risks and dangers. The Means of Prediction is an eye-opener—both a stripped-down analysis of a technology that has pretended to be more complex than it is, and a compelling call for public oversight of this transformative technology.

Pages: 224, Year of Publication: 1103, Dimensions: 14x14cm