Anatomy of an AI System
Anatomy of an AI System
17 September 2026
A Reflective Response to Anatomy of an AI System by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler
Upon reading this article, I was struck by the fleeting nature of the immense extraction and exploitation of the earth’s non-renewable resources to sustain these minor human and technological interactions. When considered in relation to geological deep time, these interactions represent an almost insignificant fraction of a second, yet the environmental consequences of the processes that sustain them can be far more enduring. This fleeting nature of the technology we are using and the relatively short lifespan of many technological devices which are designed to become obsolete within a few years, compared to the lasting effects of exploitation and destruction of the earth is quite sickening to read about.
The concept of the new geological epoch; the Anthropocene, further complicates this draining relationship between human activity and geological time, particularly when considering the extent to which human activity as a geological force has transformed the Earth’s sytems.¹ When viewed through this lens, the immense extraction of resources to sustain technological progress can therefore be understood by a much broader conversation surrounding humanity's relationship to the Earth, and the extent to which our pursuit of progress is altering the very systems upon which we depend.
This is especially concerning given the author’s discussion of how these processes of mining and resource exploitation to fuel technological progress, is detrimental to most, and benefiting only a very select few. However, it also struck me that this article maintains an analytical approach to AI systems, while presenting data and drawing comparisons that seem to encourage a more personal and emotional response from the reader.
I found the comparison between contemporary technological processes and medieval alchemy to be quite profound. Both practices involve a certain form of secrecy, with contemporary processes often protected by NDAs and trade secrets.² I found this to be a very interesting way of connecting historical approaches with technologies of the present. It encouraged me to think of AI from a more rounded perspective, in which geological processes, historical systems, and technological development are deeply intertwined. There is an illusion of separation of AI from the physical world, however this article has challenged that perception. I now understand that AI is embedded within these relationships and its illusion of separation from the physical world, can obscure how dependent it is on the earth as a whole, human labour and existing structures of power.
Notes
Shiralee Hudson Hill, “A Terrible Beauty: Art and Learning in the Anthropocene,” Journal of Museum Education 45, no.1 (2020): 76.
Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler. “Anatomy of an AI System: The Amazon Echo as an Anatomical Map of Human Labour, Data and Planetary Resources” (AI Now Institute and SHARE Lab, September 7, 2018), https://anatomyof.ai/. Notes