Performing Intelligence: A Review of Simone Natale's Book Deceitful Media: Artificial: Intelligence and Social Life after the Turing Test

Abstract

This review analyses Simone Natale's Deceitful Media: Artificial Intelligence and Social Life after the Turing Test from a cultural-historical, media-theoretical, and information-ethics perspective. Natale's idea of a "performative intelligence" puts forward the notion that AI is not an autonomous or neutral technology, but rather it is a socially constructed illusion tied to historical models, media stories, design strategies and patterns of use. By examining old (i.e.: ELIZA and PARRY) and new (modern chatbots and voice assistants) AI, the book reveals that even AI's illusion of intelligence primarily depends on mimicry, anthropomorphizing, and cultural prescripts. This review demonstrates the importance of Natale's book for library and information science as it places AI in context with larger structures of knowledge production, misinformation, surveillance, and information literacy. Ultimately, Natale demands more accountability among developers, institutions, and users, which places Deceitful Media as a strong contribution to the critical literature of AI, media and information ethics.