Objective functions: (In)humanity and inequity in artificial intelligence

This paper explores the ways that artificial intelligence, as a technological imaginary, implicitly constructs its epistemological status. That status arises from the need to define knowledge as both a human and a mechanical / mathematical phenomenon. Furthermore, the imagination of artificial intelligence has become not only an academic endeavour, or philosophical enquiry, but also a business proposition. As a result, relations between consumers, workers and investors also become implicated in the global enterprise of AI.