[Commlist] New book: Deceitful Media: Artificial Intelligence and Social Life after the Turing Test

It’s Simone Natale's pleasure to announce the publication of the book 
/Deceitful Media: Artificial Intelligence and Social Life after the 
Turing Test /with Oxford University Press.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/deceitful-media-9780190080372 
<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/deceitful-media-9780190080372>

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often discussed as something 
extraordinary, a dream—or a nightmare—that awakens metaphysical 
questions on human life. Yet far from a distant technology of the 
future, the true power of AI lies in its subtle revolution of ordinary 
life. From voice assistants like Siri to natural language processors, AI 
technologies use cultural biases and modern psychology to fit specific 
characteristics of how users perceive and navigate the external world, 
thereby projecting the illusion of intelligence.

Integrating media studies, science and technology studies, and social 
psychology, Deceitful Media examines the rise of artificial intelligence 
throughout history and exposes the very human fallacies behind this 
technology. Focusing specifically on communicative AIs, Natale argues 
that what we call "AI" is not a form of intelligence but rather a 
reflection of the human user. Using the term "banal deception," he 
reveals that deception forms the basis of all human-computer 
interactions rooted in AI technologies, as technologies like voice 
assistants utilize the dynamics of projection and stereotyping as a 
means for aligning with our existing habits and social conventions. By 
exploiting the human instinct to connect, AI reveals our collective 
vulnerabilities to deception, showing that what machines are primarily 
changing is not other technology but ourselves as humans.

*Endorsements:*
"Deceitful Media makes a compelling case that the development of 
artificial intelligence is inextricably woven together with fallacies of 
human perception. Analyzing archival documents from the 1950s onward, 
Simone Natale demonstrates the prevalence of what he calls 'banal 
deception,' the everyday taken-for-granted interactions that attribute 
human-equivalent intelligence to algorithmic processes that in 
themselves are quite different. A remarkable achievement, this 
accessible and well-written book is a 'must-read' for media scholars, 
cultural critics, and anyone interested in the significance of 
artificial intelligence for our time." - *N. Katherine Hayles, author of 
Postprint: Books and Becoming Computational*

"In /Deceitful Media/, Simone Natale provides a decisive and revealing 
analysis of the history, significance, and social consequences of 
deception in artificial intelligence, demonstrating how and why deceit 
is not a bug to be fixed but a defining feature of both the theory and 
practice of AI." - *David J. Gunkel, Northern Illinois University*

"By situating AI within the context of media and communication theory, 
Natale dispels the hype surrounding AI as a technology, replacing it 
with a theoretical lens informed by the seemingly mundane elements of 
our ongoing interactions with AI as forms of media. As a result, 
/Deceitful Media/ provides us with not only a new way to think about AI, 
but also a more grounded approach to assessing its impact for ourselves 
and society." - *Andrea Guzman, Northern Illinois University*

"/Deceitful Media/ offers pressingly ethical, sober, and sophisticated 
pathways to reclaiming the unnatural ordinariness of the human psyche in 
the shadow of artificial intelligence. Highly readable and deeply 
instructive." - *Benjamin Peters, University of Tulsa*

Please do not hesitate to get in touch at (simone.natale /at/ unito.it) 
<mailto:(simone.natale /at/ unito.it)> if you need information on how to secure 
a review copy.

To register for the upcoming online book launch of Deceitful Media, 
please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/176367599237 
<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/176367599237>

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