“Essential reading for all who have a vested interest in the rise of AI.” —Daryl Li, AI & Society

“Thought-provoking…Explores how we can best try to ensure that robots work for us, rather than against us, and proposes a new set of laws to provide a conceptual framework for our thinking on the subject.” —Financial Times

“Pasquale calls for a society-wide reengineering of policy, politics, economics, and labor relations to set technology on a more regulated and egalitarian path…Makes a good case for injecting more bureaucracy into our techno-dreams, if we really want to make the world a better place.” —Wired

“Pasquale is one of the leading voices on the uneven and often unfair consequences of AI in our society...Every policymaker should read this book and seek his counsel.” —Safiya Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression

Too many CEOs tell a simple story about the future of work: if a machine can do what you do, your job will be automated, and you will be replaced. They envision everyone from doctors to soldiers rendered superfluous by ever-more-powerful AI.

Another story is possible. In virtually every walk of life, robotic systems can make labor more valuable, not less. Frank Pasquale tells the story of nurses, teachers, designers, and others who partner with technologists, rather than meekly serving as data sources for their computerized replacements. This cooperation reveals the kind of technological advance that could bring us all better health care, education, and more, while maintaining meaningful work. These partnerships also show how law and regulation can promote prosperity for all, rather than a zero-sum race of humans against machines.

Policymakers must not allow corporations or engineers alone to answer questions about how far AI should be entrusted to assume tasks once performed by humans, or about the optimal mix of robotic and human interaction. The kind of automation we get—and who it benefits—will depend on myriad small decisions about how to develop AI. Pasquale proposes ways to democratize that decision-making, rather than centralize it in unaccountable firms. Sober yet optimistic, New Laws of Robotics offers an inspiring vision of technological progress, in which human capacities and expertise are the irreplaceable center of an inclusive economy.

"Thought-provoking…Explores how we can best try to ensure that robots work for us, rather than against us, and proposes a new set of laws to provide a conceptual framework for our thinking on the subject." - Financial Times

"Pasquale calls for a society-wide reengineering of policy, politics, economics, and labor relations to set technology on a more regulated and egalitarian path…Makes a good case for injecting more bureaucracy into our techno-dreams, if we really want to make the world a better place." - Wired

"Pasquale has explored the myriad ways that technological advances affect how we work, what media we consume, how law is made and enforced, and much more. He brings a refreshingly philosophical, even spiritual, perspective to these discussions, while concretely addressing the problems that arise when robots advance into hospitals, schools, and militaries." - Commonweal

"A powerful call to action for all contingents within society to work together as a moral obligation to write our own narrative in the AI revolution and essential reading for all who have a vested interest in the rise of AI." - AI & Society

"In a way, Pasquale’s impassioned pleas…on behalf of the endangered human world make him a mythic hero. He’s on a quest, fighting lazy thinking and influential tech behemoths…I was inspired by the innovative, richly supported, and poetic descriptions in New Laws of Robotics. Far from being the product of a natural language processing algorithm, this book could have been written only by a creative, passionate, persistent person. Frank Pasquale has done much to raise awareness of how important it is to value expertise, appreciate human abilities, avoid technological arms races, and take responsibility for the technologies humans create." - Issues in Science and Technology