Black-Boxed Politics:

As numerous authors have documented, the idea of creating artificial, intelligent machines has entranced and scandalized people for millennia. Indeed, part of what makes the history of'artificial intelligence' so fascinating is the mix of genuine scientific achievement with myth-making and outright deception. A certain amount of hype and myth making can be harmless, and might even help to fuel real progress in the field. However, the fact that'AI systems' are now being integrated into essential public services and other high-risk processes means that we must be especially vigilant about combatting misconceptions about AI. At various points throughout 2019, we saw users of Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, and Apple's Siri being shocked to discover that recordings of their private family conversations were being reviewed by real living humans. This was hardly surprising to anyone familiar with how these voice assistants are trained. But to the majority of customers, who do not question the presentation of these systems as 100% automated, it came as a shock that poorly paid overseas workers had access to what were often intimate and sensitive conversations.