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Ideal Subjects: The Abstract People of AI
How data and artificial intelligence create a new, abstract digital subject
Ideal Subjects examines how samples of our lives and daily behaviors have come to reside in the world of data and artificial intelligence—and what this means for who we are and what we may become. Detailing how AI-facilitated algorithmic prediction and data modeling make “ideal subjects” of us, Olga Goriunova explores the complex ways we relate to these digital abstractions. As more and more of our experience is funneled through computational records and models, datafied aspects of our lives are segmented and reconfigured to operate as new entities. Rather than viewing these abstract assemblages as extensions of our selves, Goriunova encourages us to consider these products of computational processes as an entirely new kind of subject, one that is both more and less than a human. Through close readings of contemporary digital practices and data analytics, Goriunova exposes the profound ethical, aesthetic, and political implications of producing and managing these new digital subjects. Highlighting the distinctive impact of computation on contemporary subject formation while placing the present within a history of shifting conceptions of the subject, she gives us much-needed tools for understanding how our intimate selves are rendered by the abstract entities of big data. Ideal Subjects presents an uncanny and deeply fascinating portrait of modern subjectivity in the technological age. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
Ideal Subjects examines how samples of our lives and daily behaviors have come to reside in the world of data and artificial intelligence—and what this means for who we are and what we may become. Detailing how AI-facilitated algorithmic prediction and data modeling make “ideal subjects” of us, Olga Goriunova explores the complex ways we relate to these digital abstractions. As more and more of our experience is funneled through computational records and models, datafied aspects of our lives are segmented and reconfigured to operate as new entities. Rather than viewing these abstract assemblages as extensions of our selves, Goriunova encourages us to consider these products of computational processes as an entirely new kind of subject, one that is both more and less than a human. Through close readings of contemporary digital practices and data analytics, Goriunova exposes the profound ethical, aesthetic, and political implications of producing and managing these new digital subjects. Highlighting the distinctive impact of computation on contemporary subject formation while placing the present within a history of shifting conceptions of the subject, she gives us much-needed tools for understanding how our intimate selves are rendered by the abstract entities of big data. Ideal Subjects presents an uncanny and deeply fascinating portrait of modern subjectivity in the technological age. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
236 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 23, 2025
About the author
Olga Goriunova
12 booksOlga Goriunova is a cultural theorist who works on digital media, computing, aesthetics and philosophy. She is Professor of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 21, 2026
The book sounds super fascinating but is sadly a bit disappointing.
The main argument is that digital data-based technologies produce new forms of subjects -- "ideal subjects". These subjects are ideal in two senses: first, because they are abstracted through data; and second, because they set up a kind of "model subject".
What's a bit disappointing about this book is that it engages mainly with quite dated empirical examples, including the Cambridge Analytica Scandal from the mid-2010s. For a book released in 2025, i would have loved to see more engagement with contemporary AI...
The best part of the book is its engagement with a wide range of theories, ranging from German Idealism to contemporary post-humanist philosophies...
The main argument is that digital data-based technologies produce new forms of subjects -- "ideal subjects". These subjects are ideal in two senses: first, because they are abstracted through data; and second, because they set up a kind of "model subject".
What's a bit disappointing about this book is that it engages mainly with quite dated empirical examples, including the Cambridge Analytica Scandal from the mid-2010s. For a book released in 2025, i would have loved to see more engagement with contemporary AI...
The best part of the book is its engagement with a wide range of theories, ranging from German Idealism to contemporary post-humanist philosophies...
Displaying 1 of 1 review