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How to See Like a Machine: Images After AI
The future of the image in the age of AI, by the celebrated artist
We once looked at pictures. Then, with the advent of computer vision and machine learning, pictures started looking back at us. Now, something even stranger is happening.
Generative AI, adtech, recommendation algorithms, engagement economies, personalized search, and machine learning are inaugurating a new relationship between humans and media. Pictures are now looking at us looking at them, eliciting feedback and evolving. We’ve entered a protean, targeted visual culture that shows us what it believes we want to see, measures our reactions, then morphs itself to optimize for the reactions and actions it wants. New forms of media prod and persuade, modulate and manipulate, shaping worldviews and actions to induce us into believing what they want us to believe, and to extract value and exert influence.
How did we get here?
We once looked at pictures. Then, with the advent of computer vision and machine learning, pictures started looking back at us. Now, something even stranger is happening.
Generative AI, adtech, recommendation algorithms, engagement economies, personalized search, and machine learning are inaugurating a new relationship between humans and media. Pictures are now looking at us looking at them, eliciting feedback and evolving. We’ve entered a protean, targeted visual culture that shows us what it believes we want to see, measures our reactions, then morphs itself to optimize for the reactions and actions it wants. New forms of media prod and persuade, modulate and manipulate, shaping worldviews and actions to induce us into believing what they want us to believe, and to extract value and exert influence.
How did we get here?
192 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 19, 2026
About the author
Trevor Paglen
29 books52 followersTrevor Paglen is an artist, writer, and experimental geographer whose work deliberately blurs lines between social science, contemporary art, journalism, and other disciplines to construct unfamiliar, yet meticulously researched ways to see and interpret the world around us.
Paglen's visual work has been exhibited at Transmediale Festival, Berlin; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; the 2008 Taipei Biennial; the Istanbul Biennial 2009, and has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Wired, Newsweek, Modern Painters, Aperture, and Art Forum.
Paglen has received grants and commissions from Rhizome.org, Art Matters, Artadia, and the Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology.
Paglen is the author of three books. His first book, Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights (co-authored with AC Thompson; Melville House, 2006) was the first book to systematically describe the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program. His second book, I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me (Melville House, 2007) an examination of the visual culture of “black” military programs, was published in Spring 2008. His third book, Blank Spots on a Map, was published by Dutton/Penguin in early 2009. In spring 2010, Aperture will publish a book of his visual work.
Paglen holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley, an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Geography from UC Berkeley.
Paglen lives and works in Oakland, CA and New York City.
Paglen's visual work has been exhibited at Transmediale Festival, Berlin; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; the 2008 Taipei Biennial; the Istanbul Biennial 2009, and has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Wired, Newsweek, Modern Painters, Aperture, and Art Forum.
Paglen has received grants and commissions from Rhizome.org, Art Matters, Artadia, and the Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology.
Paglen is the author of three books. His first book, Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights (co-authored with AC Thompson; Melville House, 2006) was the first book to systematically describe the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program. His second book, I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me (Melville House, 2007) an examination of the visual culture of “black” military programs, was published in Spring 2008. His third book, Blank Spots on a Map, was published by Dutton/Penguin in early 2009. In spring 2010, Aperture will publish a book of his visual work.
Paglen holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley, an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Geography from UC Berkeley.
Paglen lives and works in Oakland, CA and New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 31, 2026
Less about the technical capacities of generative AI software and focused more on the overall nature and history of reality manipulation, How to See Like a Machine provides a wide-ranging and refreshingly rational look at everyone's current favorite boogeyman-slash-panacea.
As this book collects essays and lectures written throughout the past decade for various purposes, it ranges considerably in tone, depth and focus - six satellites orbiting the monstrous, more-or-less unfathomable black hole (NOT going to say singularity here, for obvious reasons) that is genAI. Starting from the basics: what IS an image, what does it mean to view an image, what does it mean for a machine to create an image solely for another machine to view - we travel into deeper and stickier realms, touching upon the history of datasets, the difference between interpretation and classification, the intentional hallucinations of everyday life and vision, all the way to the CIA's anti-UFO-movement disinformation campaigns and chaos magick. We end, as we usually do, in the (near) future: how are we (individuals, societies, civilizations) meant to see an image if the image has been manipulated, or if that act of seeing is itself a manipulation?
In a world where simply getting the resources of knowledge to the people who need it is an uphill battle, books like this are an essential tool and will only grow more relevant as its subject consumes more and more of the world.
Thanks to Verso and NetGalley for this advance copy.
As this book collects essays and lectures written throughout the past decade for various purposes, it ranges considerably in tone, depth and focus - six satellites orbiting the monstrous, more-or-less unfathomable black hole (NOT going to say singularity here, for obvious reasons) that is genAI. Starting from the basics: what IS an image, what does it mean to view an image, what does it mean for a machine to create an image solely for another machine to view - we travel into deeper and stickier realms, touching upon the history of datasets, the difference between interpretation and classification, the intentional hallucinations of everyday life and vision, all the way to the CIA's anti-UFO-movement disinformation campaigns and chaos magick. We end, as we usually do, in the (near) future: how are we (individuals, societies, civilizations) meant to see an image if the image has been manipulated, or if that act of seeing is itself a manipulation?
In a world where simply getting the resources of knowledge to the people who need it is an uphill battle, books like this are an essential tool and will only grow more relevant as its subject consumes more and more of the world.
Thanks to Verso and NetGalley for this advance copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I read often. Always. Several books at once (often to my detriment, but always useful for pattern-seeking.) I never thought I'd grow fond of a specific publisher. I'm aware of some imprints, but never a specific 'style.'
Perhaps that says more about the publishing industry than me, but I've found a house I trust and delight in: Verso. The sense I get after reading several titles is deep engagement with 'esoteric' subjects, surprising connections that all make sense, and intellectual rigor.
This book has all three. No surprise there! The author has spent two decades making invisible systems visible: classified satellites, secret prisons, the hidden architecture of surveillance. This essay collection (part cultural criticism, part field guide) traces how generative AI and computer vision have rewired our relationship with images. Who makes them, who they're made for, and what they're doing to us.
What I didn't expect was the detour through UFO mythology and Cold War psyops. But each page earns every strange turn, and it all coheres.
Images have always been tools. But also weapons.
The question isn't whether machines are watching us. It's whether we know how to watch back.
Perhaps that says more about the publishing industry than me, but I've found a house I trust and delight in: Verso. The sense I get after reading several titles is deep engagement with 'esoteric' subjects, surprising connections that all make sense, and intellectual rigor.
This book has all three. No surprise there! The author has spent two decades making invisible systems visible: classified satellites, secret prisons, the hidden architecture of surveillance. This essay collection (part cultural criticism, part field guide) traces how generative AI and computer vision have rewired our relationship with images. Who makes them, who they're made for, and what they're doing to us.
What I didn't expect was the detour through UFO mythology and Cold War psyops. But each page earns every strange turn, and it all coheres.
Images have always been tools. But also weapons.
The question isn't whether machines are watching us. It's whether we know how to watch back.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Frankly, when I chose this book, I was looking for something more technical, filled with relevant keywords and phrases.
Although, the book took a semi wrong turn for me, the turn was plesantly surprising. After this book, my AI prompts for image and video creation will be different. The insights, beginning with the concept of Umwelt and moving through neural networks (briefly), machine orchestration, and the society of psyops, enriched my understanding significantly.
The power theory in the contemporary image culture sounds like a product of multiple conspiracy theories. The toy labelled photo is shocking but Gen AI prompting often leads me towards various such examples.
The focus on linguistic flexibility adds further depth and nuance to the discussion.
I am particularly fascinated about the deception principles of the psyop programs.
Overall, an insightful book to understand the machine's perspective of images (& media culture) and what we have been feeding them for quite sometimes.
Although, the book took a semi wrong turn for me, the turn was plesantly surprising. After this book, my AI prompts for image and video creation will be different. The insights, beginning with the concept of Umwelt and moving through neural networks (briefly), machine orchestration, and the society of psyops, enriched my understanding significantly.
The power theory in the contemporary image culture sounds like a product of multiple conspiracy theories. The toy labelled photo is shocking but Gen AI prompting often leads me towards various such examples.
The focus on linguistic flexibility adds further depth and nuance to the discussion.
I am particularly fascinated about the deception principles of the psyop programs.
Overall, an insightful book to understand the machine's perspective of images (& media culture) and what we have been feeding them for quite sometimes.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.
I like this more than I expected. I'll also never be able to see Doritos the same way again.
Basically: Images are about narrative. They are a separate type of reality. We have to treat them that way: not asking what AI images are, but what they aim to do.
I like this more than I expected. I'll also never be able to see Doritos the same way again.
Basically: Images are about narrative. They are a separate type of reality. We have to treat them that way: not asking what AI images are, but what they aim to do.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews