AI, Automation, and Algorithms | Matteo Pasquinelli

The Verso Podcast

This week we have a special episode for you as part of our inter-season programming - an interview with Matteo Pasquinelli. Of course, we’re still working hard to bring you more roundtable discussions with our wonderful Verso authors in our upcoming fourth series of The Verso Podcast, but until then we hope you’ll enjoy the exciting interim episodes we have in store for you. Matteo Pasquinelli is an associate professor in Philosophy of Science at the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. His writing has appeared in AI and Society, e-flux, Multitudes, Radical Philosophy, the South Atlantic Quarterly, and many other places besides. He is the author of several books, including his most recent work, The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence - out now with Verso Books (https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/735-the-eye-of-the-master). Matteo sat down with Richard Hames to explore some of the ideas laid out in his latest text - cutting against popular understandings of artificial intelligence that have come to increasingly dominate our cultural imaginaries, our workplaces, our digital lives, and our visions of the future. Pasquinelli argues that whilst many may claim that artificial intelligence imitates biological intelligence, the reality is that AI does not amount to a digital proxy of the neural pathways of individual human beings. Instead, he advances the opinion that AI imitates the intelligence of labor and social relations - framing it as a social and political creature, whose problems demand social and political responses. In this interview Matteo talks algorithms, IQ tests, and why AI will ultimately lead to us working more, not less. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you can be the first to know when season four drops - and so that you don’t miss any of the bonus content coming your way between now and then. If you enjoy The Verso Podcast please consider leaving a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts - it really helps us out!