Abstract

Anthropomorphic language is constantly deployed in discussions of technology more generally and very specifically in discussions of artificial intelligence. Such language can obscure both what the technology actually does and what the challenges are to using it. Facial Recognition and autonomous vehicles both rely on a form of computer vision—not the same but related forms. This article seeks to deconstruct what is going on in these two technologies to give readers an ability to think critically about them as these are technologies that will have broad social impacts and which are potentially dangerous to health and well-being. They will involve exercise of power by inscrutable algorithmic authority and it is important to think more deeply about them so that we can build a world we want to live in.