Das Auge des Meisters

In his astonishing social history, Pasquinelli sets out in search of the roots of artificial intelligence (AI) and discovers them in the development of the division of labour, in the spatial calculation of industrial production, and in the control of collective behaviour. His dismantling of the myth of artificial intelligence could calm the waves raised by the often highly controversial discourse on its dangers. In any case, it is salutary and relieving to realise that AI is only the automation of work at the highest level, but not intelligence per se. For the answer to the question of what artificial intelligence actually is cannot be found in the hidden logic of the mind or in the complex neural physiology of the brain. The idea that AI could one day think autonomously or even develop feelings remains pure fantasy.

" ‘Das Auge des Meisters’ (The Eye of the Master), an analytical bull's-eye, tells the story of computers and AI from a critical, politically conscious perspective for which the term ‘left-wing’ seems too banal. There is nothing banal about this book – least of all reading it." – Arno Orzessek, Deutschlandfunk Kultur

"We are surrounded by stories about AI threatening jobs, as if it were a force pursuing work from outside and above. The Eye of the Master radically challenges this view. Matteo Pasquinelli shows that labour is at the root of the historical development of AI. Stories of dispossession and resistance, automation and struggle permeate the pages of this passionate book, which is both a remarkable academic achievement and a political weapon for rethinking the politics of AI." – Sandro Mezzadra