The New Ghosts in the Machine: ‘Pragmatist’ AI and the Conceptual Perils of Anthropomorphic Description

Brooker, Phillip ORCID: 0000-0003-1189-4647, Dutton, William and Mair, MD ORCID: 0000-0003-0929-5426 (2019) The New Ghosts in the Machine: ‘Pragmatist’ AI and the Conceptual Perils of Anthropomorphic Description. Ethnographic Studies, 16. pp. 272-298.

Access the full-text of this item by clicking on the Open Access link.

	Text Brooker, Dutton & Mair - The New Ghosts in the Machine.docx - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (86kB)
	Text Brooker, Dutton & Mair - The New Ghosts in the Machine.pdf - Published version Download (266kB) | Preview

Abstract

Algorithms are becoming interwoven with increasingly many aspects of our affairs. That process of interweaving has brought with it a language laden with anthropomorphic descriptions of the technologies involved, which variously hint at ‘human-esque’ or ‘conscious-like’ activity occurring within or behind their operations. Indeed, the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) seems to refer to a quality that is thought to be largely human; namely, intelligence. However, while anthropomorphic descriptions may be useful or harmless, when taken at face value they generate a false picture of algorithms as well as of our own thinking and reasoning practices by treating them as analogues of one another rather than as distinct. Focusing on the algorithm, and what it is misleadingly said to be and to be like, in this article we outline three “perspicuous representations” (Wittgenstein 1953: §122) of AI in specific contexts. Drawing on Wes Sharrock’s ethnomethodological and Wittgensteinian work, our aim is to demonstrate that by attending to the particular, occasioned and locally accountable, not to say highly specified, usages of language that accompany the ‘New AI’ in particular, we can avoid being haunted by the new task performing ghosts currently being discursively conjured up in our algorithmic machines.

Item Type:	Article
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	07 Oct 2019 15:52
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 00:24
DOI:	10.5281/zenodo.3459327
Open Access URL:	https://zenodo.org/record/3459327
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3057133

Available Versions of this Item

• The New Ghosts in the Machine: ‘Pragmatist’ AI and the Conceptual Perils of Anthropomorphic Description. (deposited 22 Aug 2019 10:04)
  • The New Ghosts in the Machine: ‘Pragmatist’ AI and the Conceptual Perils of Anthropomorphic Description. (deposited 07 Oct 2019 15:52) [Currently Displayed]