Reviews for
Publishers Weekly
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This lively report from journalist and novelist Doctorow (Enshittification) examines the hype around AI, encouraging people to make the technology work for them, not the other way around. In automation theory, he explains, centaurs are people assisted by machines (a person riding a bike or wearing a hearing aid), while reverse centaurs are those forced to act as assistants to a machine (an assembly line worker). This distinction is at the heart of the debate about the usefulness of AI tools, he argues, explaining that those who swear the tools are useless have had AI imposed upon them, while those who extol its utility are people who get to decide when and how to use it. AI companies, he asserts, have lured investors by overhyping the technology and using accounting gimmicks that inflate revenues. The “AI bubble” is destined to pop, he contends, predicting the economic fallout will rival the pandemic recession. On the bright side, he believes people will benefit from “a kind of AI residue” long after the bubble has burst—such as cheap, open-source models that run on personal computers and do things like transcription and image processing. Accessible and comprehensive, this is a useful guide to wading through the discourse around AI. (June)
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Think of this as a companion piece to Enshittification (2025). In that book, Doctorow talked about the methods by which online platforms systematically degrade their services and mistreat their users. In this book, the author focuses on the ways artificial intelligence can and, in many cases, almost certainly will impact our lives. But this is no anti-AI manifesto. There are benefits to AI; for example, it can be an excellent tool for statistical analysis, and Doctorow makes sure that we understand that. But his main focus is on the downsides—the environmental cost, of course, but also the cost to human beings. Doctorow’s central point: AI boosters want to convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can’t do your job and never will be able to do your job. And they’ll do whatever it takes, including deception and gross exaggeration, to do that. There are already a lot of books about AI, with more on the way. Consider this one to be mandatory reading. It’s lively, entertaining, angry, wry, passionate, and vastly informative.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
An eye-opening take on AI. Doctorow, a science fiction author and open-source advocate (Enshittification, 2025) warns that we are misled by advocates claiming AI will replace much of human labor. In this brisk, slightly profane account, he argues AI companies are spinning self-serving narratives. Claims that AI will transform work are actually a coded message to investors, signaling that mature companies should be viewed as “early stage” innovators—a far more enticing model. A union member in a creative field, Doctorow is a forceful advocate for labor rights. With numerous examples, he reveals how AI hype shapes public opinion, warning, “science fiction tells us that the most important aspect of a new technology isn’t what the machinedoes, it’s who it does itfor and who it does itto.” He invokes the mythical centaur: a human-led fusion of person and machine. AI companies promote a reverse centaur, “a ‘human in the loop,’ charged with confirming the judgments the AIs make at a superhuman clip.” Denied breaks, delivery drivers, Amazon warehouse workers, and programmers hammering out endless code serve the machines. Workers’ job worries are real, but Doctorow insists the main audience for AI hype is investors: “For AI companies to make back the hundreds of billions their investors have entrusted them with, they will have to displace ahell of a lot of high-waged labor” and lure new investment. Although Doctorow says AI’s potential for medicine, data analysis, and creative work is promising, AI scientists “haven’t invented an intelligent being. … They haven’t even invented a tool that can do your job for you.” A sharply worded, irreverent, and deadly serious call to see through the sleight-of-hand performance of AI promoters. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
