Kate Crawford — The Limits and Dangers of AI

NYU AI Now Institute founder Kate Crawford TED Talk is the most important counterweight on this list to the capability-focused talks. Crawford focuses on what AI systems actually are in material terms: large computational systems requiring substantial energy and water, trained on data with embedded biases, deployed in ways that concentrate power and surveil populations. The Atlas of AI book (2021) on which this talk draws is a work of genuine scholarly depth — Crawford has access to AI company facilities and supply chains that are unavailable to most researchers. The value of this talk is empirical specificity: instead of abstract concerns about AI bias, Crawford cites documented cases where facial recognition systems produced discriminatory outcomes in criminal justice, benefits administration, and hiring. An essential counterbalance to the enthusiast coverage that dominates technology media.