THE FRANKENSTEIN FIX

Cohen warns against the dangers of unregulated Big Tech in this nonfiction work.

When a group of several thousand experts in the field were asked to predict the chances of artificial intelligence systems “causing human extinction or similarly permanent and severe disempowerment of the human species,” the average response was 10%. Per the author, this figure—given by those who embrace the technology—should terrify readers, particularly as we enter an era of exponential AI growth combined with a federal government that’s increasingly willing to turn a blind eye to corporate abuses of power. In this sweeping, cogent analysis, Cohen contextualizes our current AI boom within the larger history of technological upheaval, noting that while creators of new technologies may have “the purest of motivations,” unintended negative consequences are often exacerbated by psychological, ideological, cultural, and political factors. The author draws on a myriad of historic examples, for example attributing Adolf Hitler’s rise, in part, to Germany’s mass production of cheap radios that broadcast his firebrand speeches nationwide. The book’s opening chapters focus on the negative influences of the internet, smartphones, and social media. Seeking to learn from our most recent mistakes as we approach an AI future, Cohen highlights the ways in which social media has led to a rise in disinformation that threatens the viability of American democracy. The book’s midsection turns to Silicon Valley, convincingly detailing how Donald Trump’s administration has cozied up to Big Tech leaders like Elon Musk and created a dangerous set of conditions in which AI-centric corporations are given free rein, with minimal federal oversight. The volume’s final third offers intriguing practical solutions to these problems, outlining an approach that moves beyond the dichotomy of laissez-faire capitalism and socialism. The author’s model of economic distributism, Cohen posits, would avoid concentrations of power by “spreading ownership as widely as possible.” A tenured professor and prolific author whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, Cohen backs his arguments with impressive scholarship—the text is supported by more than 700 endnotes.

A well-researched and frightening warning about unfettered technology.