How to See Like a Machine: Images After AI

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

We once looked at pictures. Then, with the advent of computer vision and machine learning, pictures started looking back at us. Now, something even stranger is happening.

Generative AI, adtech, recommendation algorithms, engagement economies, personalized search, and machine learning are inaugurating a new relationship between humans and media. Pictures are now looking at us looking at them, eliciting feedback and evolving. We've entered a protean, targeted visual culture that shows us what it believes we want to see, measures our reactions, then morphs itself to optimize for the reactions and actions it wants. New forms of media prod and persuade, modulate and manipulate, shaping worldviews and actions to induce us into believing what they want us to believe, and to extract value and exert influence.

How did we get here?

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Hardback
ISBN13: 9781836742166
Published: May 2026

Number of pages: 192
Width: 140 mm
Height: 210 mm
Depth: 17 mm

Publisher: Verso Books