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“Anthropology and AI highlights the significance of anthropology for the development of artificial intelligence throughout history. What makes this book so compelling is its theoretical and critical depth along with an emphasis on mutual co-shaping of people and technology. The book demonstrates how anthropologists can impact AI while also asking what the current technological developments mean for the future of anthropology as a discipline. An extraordinary and timely volume that should spark interest among both students and seasoned scholars of anthropology.“
Author of Calling Family: Digital Technologies and the Making of Care Collectives
About the Book
Anthropology and AI explores the complex intersection of artificial intelligence and human society through a diverse collection of anthropological and social scientific perspectives. Artificial intelligence is rapidly accelerating and is poised to permeate the everyday lives of people around the world in ways that are full of promise, perils, and potentials. How does anthropology respond to this? This timely volume brings together twelve carefully curated chapters examining AI’s many manifestations—from machine listening and engineers’ philosophies to large language models and conversational agents. Curated with a broad humanistic and social scientific audience in mind but firmly rooted within broader anthropological and STS conversations about humanity and technology, the contributions are situated on a broad spectrum of approaches to artificial intelligence, spanning theoretical, empirical, and applied social scientific research. Anthropology and AI will appeal to students and researchers across anthropology, science and technology studies, digital humanities, and computer science who are interested in critical perspectives on emerging technologies.
“Indispensable. This volume is a powerful corrective, proving that anthropology isn’t just reacting to Al, but a discipline responsible for shaping and steering it. The chapters and discussions bridge the gap between critical theory we teach and constructive action we need in practice. The editors raise an important call for anthropology to collaborate with the growth of Al, especially during a time when development towards AGI is increasingly distant from social consequences. By reframing our role from sideline critics to “indispensable architects” of good Al, this book will be essential reading for my students and a welcome validation for my work in the field. A vital, urgent, and necessary collection.”
Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Colby College
Chapters
1. Introduction: An Anthropological History of AI by Angela K. VandenBroek, Matt Artz, and Lora Koycheva
2. A Hinge for Ethnographic Interventions in AI Systems: Interlocking the Past, Present, and Future by Libuše Hannah Vepřek and Rebecca Carlson
3. Co‑Becoming with AI: An Anthropological Framework for Equitable Human‑AI Systems by Matt Artz
4. The Mythical Speech of Artificial Intelligence: The Imaginary of an Autonomous Agency by Andrés Pachón
5. “The Wind Under the Door:” Pareidolia and ChatGPT as a Feared and Welcome Guest by John N. A. Brown
6. The Bullshit Problem: Re‑Thinking the Epistemic Stakes of Artificial Intelligence by Angela K. VandenBroek
7. Dissecting Speech: The “Acoustic‑Linguistic Divide” in Artificial Intelligence by Edward B. Kang and Juana C. Becerra Sandoval
8. AI‑powered Accessibility: Inclusive Co‑design and Disability Expertise in AI‑Powered Workplace Accessibility by Sydney Yeager
9. Navigating the Uncanny Valley: How Conversation Designers Shape Human‑AI Interaction by Elizabeth Rodwell
10. Partners in Conversation by Larry Sommer McGrath
11. From Present Tense to Future (Im)perfect: The Role of Anthropology in the Future of AI by Kate Sieck
12. Conclusion: Editorial Forum on The Futures of Anthropology and AI by Lora Koycheva, Matt Artz, and Angela K. VandenBroek
Editors
Lora Koycheva
Lora Koycheva is Assistant Professor at the Chair of Technoscience Studies, Brandenburg Technical University, Germany and founder of Robots, actually! – a global initiative to rebuild the human condition with robots. She works at the intersection of anthropology, innovation, entrepreneurship, and robotics and is co-editor of EmTech Anthropology: Careers at the Frontier
Angela VandenBroek
Angela K. VandenBroek is an assistant professor of anthropology at Texas State University, USA, where she combines her research on innovation and entrepreneurship with her nearly two decades of experience in information technologies, design, marketing, and organizational strategy. Her work sits at the intersection of business and design anthropology and feminist science and technology studies.
