The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want

Review Quotes:

"With their expansive, interdisciplinary expertise, Bender and Hanna write with absolute authority and unapologetic clarity about all the ways AI companies wield and weaponize language--in their marketing hype and as training data for their monstrous AI models--to create a less rigorous, less verifiable, more unequal, and more BS-filled world. Despite the depressing nature of their subject, Bender and Hanna narrate it with 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

"The AI Con is 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. Their expertise and independence from the tech companies claiming to have created what the CEO of OpenAI calls 'magic intelligence in the sky, ' makes them two of the few voices writing on this topic motivated by the public's interests rather than their personal gains." - Timnit Gebru, Founder and Executive Director at The Distributed AI Research Institute

"In The AI Con, Bender and Hanna deliver a hard-hitting, no-nonsense takedown of the so-called 'artificial intelligence revolution.' Far from the sci-fi fantasy of machines thinking for themselves, this book shows how tech giants are using AI as a cover for their real agenda: data exploitation, surveillance, and a race to replace human labor with soulless automation. With irreverence and razor-sharp analysis, Bender and Hanna dismantle the hype and arm readers with the tools to see through the corporate doublespeak. This isn't just about debunking myths--it's about reclaiming control over the future that's being sold to us." - Ruha Benjamin, author of Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want

"If you've been confused and bedazzled by all the chatter about AI, this book will help you make sense of all of it. Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna break down all the science-fictional flights of fancy, and painstakingly reveal the troubling reality that lies beneath. The AI Con is required reading for anyone who wants to survive the twenty-first century." - Charlie Jane Anders, author of Victories Greater Than Death

"In this AI hype era, Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna are here to deliver the well-informed debunking our algorithm overlords deserve." - Annalee Newitz, bestselling author of Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind and Autonomous

"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, you're one of those many, you need to read this book. It's clear, objective and comprehensible. It's essential reading." - Brian Eno

"A refreshingly contrarian take on AI and the clouds of hyperbole surrounding it." - Kirkus Reviews

"The AI Con takes the thunder out of the dark cloud in our technological future. I am so grateful for the reality check, in Emily's and Alex's inimitable style. A must-read for those who don't 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 book to inoculate your mind against Big Tech's AI utopian hype and the resulting dystopian dread." - Yanis Varoufakis, economist

"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

"The industry known as AI is fifty pounds of BS in a ten-pound bag, but politicians, the press, and CEOs are falling for it. Into the breach step Bender and Hanna...speaking truth about the most dangerous tech scam of our lifetime. The big lie of AI is that statistical processes can replace humans in jobs where a human touch is essential...There may be constructive use cases of 'extruded text' in the future, but accelerated climate change, loss of copyrights and privacy, increased unemployment, and a wide range of health problems are happening now and will only get worse." - Roger McNamee, New York Times bestselling author of Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe

"The authors drive home the troubling ways in which [AI] technology is transforming society. AI skeptics will find plenty of fodder for their critique." - Publishers Weekly

A smart, incisive look at the technologies sold as artificial intelligence, the drawbacks and pitfalls of technology sold under this banner, and why it's crucial to recognize the many ways in which AI hype covers for a small set of power-hungry actors at work and in the world.

Is artificial intelligence going to take over the world? Have big tech scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to put authors, artists, and others out of business? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?

The answer to these questions, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make clear, is "no," "they wish," "LOL," and "definitely not." This kind of thinking is a symptom of a phenomenon known as "AI hype." Hype looks and smells fishy: It twists words and helps the rich get richer by justifying data theft, motivating surveillance capitalism, and devaluing human creativity in order to replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. In The AI Con, Bender and Hanna offer a sharp, witty, and wide-ranging take-down of AI hype across its many forms.

Bender and Hanna show you how to spot AI hype, how to deconstruct it, and how to expose the power grabs it aims to hide. Armed with these tools, you will be prepared to push back against AI hype at work, as a consumer in the marketplace, as a skeptical newsreader, and as a citizen holding policymakers to account. Together, Bender and Hanna expose AI hype for what it is: a mask for Big Tech's drive for profit, with little concern for who it affects.

This guide gives you the tools to see past the headlines and understand the real stakes:

• Corporate Influence: How the narrative around "intelligent" machines is crafted to serve corporate profit motives, not the public good.
• Digital Ethics: A clear-eyed examination of how AI systems are built on data extraction and surveillance--and who bears the real cost of that model.
• Media Literacy for the AI Age: A practical toolkit for recognizing hype in the wild--in headlines, at work, and in the products marketed to you every day.
• A Call for Accountability: Why citizens, workers, and policymakers all have a role to play in ensuring AI serves people rather than replacing them.

Review Citations:

• Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2025 (EAN 9780063418561, Hardcover)
• Booklist 04/01/2025 pg. 11 (EAN 9780063418561, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
• Library Journal 04/18/2025 pg. 1 (EAN 9780063418561, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
• Publishers Weekly 05/05/2025 (EAN 9780063418561, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:Bender, Emily M

Dr. Emily M. Bender is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington where she is also the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master of Science program and affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School. In 2023, she was included in the inaugural Time 100 list of the most influential people in AI. She is frequently consulted by policymakers, from municipal officials to the federal government to the United Nations, for insight into how to understand so-called AI technologies.

Dr. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and a Lecturer in the School of Information at the University of California Berkeley. She is an outspoken critic of the tech industry, a proponent of community-based uses of technology, and a highly sought-after speaker and expert who has been featured across the media, including articles in the Washington Post, Financial Times, The Atlantic, and Time.