The politics of artificial intelligence: an interview with Louise Amoore

Krystian Woznicki (KW):'Rethinking political agency in an AI-driven world' is the topic of the AMBIENT REVOLTS conference in Berlin on 8–10 November. I would therefore like to begin by asking you about the deployment of algorithms at state borders. You have noted that'in order to learn, to change daily and evolve [they] require precisely the circulations and mobilities that pass through'. This observation is part of your larger argument about how governmentality is less concerned with prohibiting movement than with facilitating it in productive ways. The role of self-learning algorithms would seem to be very significant in this context, since – like capitalism – they also hinge upon movement. When it comes to their thirst for traffic, how do you think that relationship between self-learning algorithms and capitalism? Louise Amoore (LA): Yes, I agree that the role of'self learning' or semi-supervised algorithms is of the utmost relevance in understanding how movement and circulation matters.