Bruno Latour and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

This scenario discusses generative AI in light of Bruno Latour’s sociology of technology. It considers why Latour showed little interest in the simulation of intelligence and how connectionist AI fails to meet his condition for scientificity but offers a fascinating writing mediation. AI is most interesting not because it emulates human thinking or writing, but because it differs from them. Drawing on actor-network theory, this scenario argues against the idea of machines becoming detached from their creators and highlights how AIs can only exist through the support of their human assistants. The risks associated with these technologies do not come from an improbable singularity, but from their embedding in the dull and exploitative industry of digital attention economy.