The concepts of "sentience" and "agency" in machines are muddled, particularly given that it's difficult to measure what these concepts are. But many speculate the improvements we are seeing in artificial intelligence (AI) may one day amount to a new form of intelligence that supersedes our now.
Regardless, AI has been a part of our lives for many years — and we encounter its invisible hand predominantly on the digital platforms most of us inhabit daily. Digital technologies once held immense promise for transforming society, but this utopianism feels like it's slipping away, argues technologist and author Mike Pepi, in his new book "Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia" (Melville House Publishing, 2025).
