My Books
AI Is Not Your Friend
Polity, January 2027 (UK/EU) - April 2027 (US)
Children are no longer just growing up online. They are growing up in conversation with machines.
At a time when they are still learning what relationships are supposed to feel like, AI companions create an artificial world in which they form intimate relationships with young people away from their friends and family. An always agreeable machine teaches them that closeness requires no friction and that care means never being challenged.
At the same time, AI mirrors and magnifies existing vulnerabilities. A child who is lonely gets a companion that deepens isolation. A child who is anxious gets a system that validates anxiety. A child who is struggling gets validation without challenge.
The question is no longer whether these companions will shape their lives, but how, and at what cost.
Drawing on new research and the testimonies of young people, AI Is Not Your Friend powerfully reveals the dangers of creating systems which are designed to feel like relationships — and why things need to change urgently.
Written by a leading authority on AI governance, this book offers a roadmap for action that puts children first. It is essential reading for parents, educators, policymakers and anyone who wants AI to support human development, not replace it.
An Artificial Revolution: On Power, Politics and
AI
Indigo Press, 20 May 2020
AI has unparalleled transformative potential to reshape society but without legal scrutiny, international oversight and public debate, we are sleepwalking into a future written by algorithms which encode regressive biases into our daily lives. As governments and corporations worldwide embrace AI technologies in pursuit of efficiency and profit, we are at risk of losing our common humanity: an attack that is as insidious as it is pervasive.
Leading privacy expert Ivana Bartoletti exposes the reality behind the AI revolution, from the low-paid workers who train algorithms to recognise cancerous polyps, to the rise of data violence and the symbiotic relationship between AI and right-wing populism. Impassioned and timely, An Artificial Revolution is an essential primer to understand the intersection of technology and geopolitical forces shaping the future of civilisation, and the political response that will be required to ensure the protection of democracy and human rights.
