The AI Con

Author Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna
Narrator Jade Wheeler
Publisher Random House
Publish Date 22 May 2025
Run Time 7 hours and 51 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Artificial intelligence, Corruption in politics, government and society, Digital and information technologies: social and ethical aspects, Ethical issues: scientific, technological and medical developments, Financial technology (fintech), Impact of science and technology on society, Knowledge economics, Technology: general issues.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

A smart, incisive take-down of the bogus claims being made about so-called ‘artificial intelligence’, exposing the real harm these technologies do to our jobs, health, society and environment, who stands to gain from them, and how to fight back.

Is AI going to take over the world? Have scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to replace all our jobs, even creative ones, like doctors, teachers and care-workers? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?

The answers to these questions, as the expert authors of The AI Con make clear, are 'no', 'they wish', 'LOL', and 'definitely not'. In fact, these fears are all symptoms of the hype being used by tech corporations to justify data theft, motivate surveillance capitalism, and devalue human creativity so they can replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. Meanwhile, across healthcare, education, media, government and law-enforcement, ‘AI’ products are already being introduced that are unreliable, ineffective, unjust and dangerous.

Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, The AI Con arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation and power-grabs it aims to hide, and push back against it at work and in your daily life.

© Alex Hanna and Emily M. Bender 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

The blizzard of excitement, misinformation and pure hype around AI has driven many of us to want an honest guide to both its promises and its limitations as well as its bizarre history. If, like me, youu2019re one of those many, you need to read this book. Itu2019s clear, objective and comprehensible. Itu2019s essential reading

Brian Eno

The AI Con takes the thunder out of the dark cloud in our technological future. I am so grateful for the reality check, in Emilyu2019s and Alexu2019s inimitable style. A must-read for those who donu2019t want to believe the hype

Aleks Krotoski, presenter of The Digital Human

A powerful antidote to the AI hype that dominates tech writing today. The authors show that the development of modern labour saving technologies is not neutral. Instead, these technologies will serve to deepen existing inequalities, and further 'enshittify' life and work for the vast majority of people

Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism

A must-read. Drs. Alex Hanna and Emily M. Bender cut through the dizzying hype to provide the clearest picture yet of what AI is, what it is not, and why none of us need to accept it being shoved down our throats

Timnit Gebru, Founder and Executive Director at The Distributed AI Research Institute

A book to inoculate your mind against Big Tech's AI utopian hype and the resulting dystopian dread

Yanis Varoufakis

Artificial intelligence is going to reshape our economy and society. And we'd all better get used to it, right? Wrong, say the authors of this incredible book. This is a truly eye-opening book that will be an indispensable 'field manual' for those who want to fight for a more humane economy and a better society

Ha-Joon Chang, author of Economics: The User's Guide and Edible Economics

A fascinating and thought-provoking analysis of one of the most charged debates in the world

Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus

Bender and Hanna write with absolute authority and incredible wit and verve. Come for the piercing observations; leave with the tools to slice your way through the absurdist narratives that prop up the AI industry and to hold it accountable

Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI

A powerful and timely deep dive into what the AI hype cycle is REALLY about, why it's bound to crash, and what we can all do to protect ourselves from it. An absolute must-read!

Karla Ortiz, artist and artist activist

With irreverence and razor-sharp analysis, Bender and Hanna show how tech giants are using AI as a cover for their real agenda. This isnu2019t just about debunking myths u2013 itu2019s about reclaiming control over the future

Ruha Benjamin, author of Viral Justice

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