Book review of Human Power:
Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age
I am a practitioner in the field of AI policymaking, as a civil society advocate and a researcher. I was excited to read Ms. Gry Hasselbalch because she has a very good reputation for telling people the truth and for not backing down on values-based work. I’ve had the opportunity to hear her present in the past.
This was exactly the read I hoped for and more. She describes our “human powers” like unpacking a really great care package, full of everything you love but forgot you were missing. And in details. In quotable, academic details, heading off through history and into the conversations between people about how AI policy needs become enacted. I love it. It’s the next best thing to being in the room.
The best part for me as a social systems geek is that she’s been in this work, she ties each of our human powers to policy power as you read, so it builds you up. And she brings it all together in the final chapter. Direct conversations with the people making the decisions, about the challenges they face. For me this type of thinking underpins what we’re doing with the Aula Fellowship, about connecting people to these conversations. She also gives me personally a lot of analogies and examples to help make the conversations we’re having around hard questions gain some clarity. So I am not a habitual book reviewer, but count me in as a book recommender. I liked this, a lot, and it’s already being useful to how I think and talk about tech policy. It’s a reminder that we as people have choices in how this is going to affect the future. And it’s a cheerful reminder that we humans get to keep all the good stuff, like loving each other and creating society.
Thank you for your work, Ms. Hasselbalch.
