In keeping with the theme of this month’s JLE, our book reviews focus on ethical implications of AI. Mark Ellingsen reviews Is Artificial Intelligence Racist? The Ethics of AI and the Future of Humanity. In this book, author Arshin Adib-Moghaddam describes the racist biases that permeate AI’s algorithms and examines the troubling implications for policing, banking, job applications, consumerism, and other facets of contemporary life. William Fredstrom reviews Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech by Jamie Susskind. Susskind considers a future transformed by advances in technology that up-end the ways we obtain and share information, communicate, and live together as political beings in community. While both books are sober cautionary tales, they also consider constructive possibilities for moving forward.
Nancy Arnison is a lawyer, theologian and nonprofit executive and serves as the Book Review Editor for the Journal of Lutheran Ethics.