Artificial intelligence representations

technocentrism in question

Abstract

This paper discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) has been appropriated by the discursivity of hegemonic systems of representation, taking cinematic re- presentations of AI as a starting point — from the movie Metropolis (1927) to A.I.: artificial intelligence (2001). It shows how cinema constructs meanings and reinforces conservative ideologies regarding the role of machines in society. The materialist and dialectical approach adopted in the analysis allows us to problematize technocentrism, which, from an instrumental perspective, pre- sents AI as a neutral tool and users as entirely autonomous subjects, and, from a deterministic approach, attributes full autonomy to AI, which would impose itself on subjects captured by its magic and power. The paper also emphasizes the challenges posed by the hegemony of the world’s major technology con- glomerates, which monopolize the development of AI systems and promote a model of digital control. As an alternative way of understanding AI, we draw on Vygotsky’s notion of the unity between instruments and signs, in order to overcome a technocentric view and to appropriate AI in its historical, social, and cultural materiality.