A new book by Cambridge researcher Eleanor Drage argues that artificial intelligence isn't autonomous technology but the product of vast human supply chains spanning silicon mines, microchip factories, and data labelling centres across the developing world. What If We Got AI Right? challenges the tech industry's marketing narrative and calls for citizens to understand what companies are actually selling before they can reclaim power over AI development, according to a Guardian review published Monday.
Drage, an assistant research professor at the University of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, has researched AI-powered recruitment and law enforcement applications. Her core argument: big tech can't deliver utopian promises while chasing profit and power above all else and serving a narrow elite's interests.
Cutting Through the Marketing
The book dismantles common AI terminology that obscures reality. The cloud is just someone else's computer. An AI "hallucination" is a system error or data labelling mistake. Intelligence itself is a broad and potentially misleading term when applied to algorithms, Drage writes.
She argues that AI algorithms perpetuate and entrench pre-existing biases, that tech giants have become too big to care about ethics, and that a handful of executives have amassed too much power. AI is being rolled out without consent and without consideration for planetary health, according to her critique.
The Labour Question
Drage wrote that "It's merely an illusion that the labour force is disappearing: work is simply shifting, from artists to data labellers and from marketeers to engineers." The Guardian reviewer questioned that claim, though it reflects a broader concern about how AI development redistributes rather than eliminates work.
The book describes a toolkit Drage co-designed to help AI companies act ethically and comply with EU regulations. She called it a "cornerstone of utopianism" because it shifts focus to how AI is built and made. Utopia isn't a destination but the "process of working together to develop a fairer world," she said.
Practical Examples, Missing Context
Drage includes examples such as Mumkin, an app designed to facilitate difficult conversations about female genital mutilation in India, and Kuini, an AI chatbot built to help Māori women quit smoking. The reviewer noted that Drage doesn't mention AI's potential to improve drug discovery and disease detection.
Her central thesis: the cultural obsession with AI-induced apocalypse distracts from practical conversations about making AI safer by giving citizens more power over how their information is used and how AI models are trained and regulated.
The review ended by asking, "What if we got AI right," and said after reading the book, the reviewer couldn't say they really knew.
Why This Matters:
European policymakers are racing to regulate AI while tech companies lobby for lighter rules. Drage's argument that AI is fundamentally about human labour and supply chains — not magical algorithms — matters for how Europe approaches oversight. If she's right that a handful of executives have amassed too much power, then the EU's AI Act and data protection framework become tools for restoring democratic accountability. But her omission of AI's medical and scientific potential raises questions about whether the book offers a complete picture of the trade-offs Europe faces. The continent needs AI regulation that protects citizens without crushing the innovation that could keep European industry competitive. Understanding what AI actually is — and who builds it — is the starting point for that balance.