What do you think?
Rate this book
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
Published May 19, 2026
About the author
Trevor Paglen
29 books62 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 30, 2026
Thought it was brilliant and terrifying and very fun to read! Another great trueanon plug that is remarkably eye-opening about the future of vision, tech, and influence.
The idea that there’s a future where images generated by computers off of your psycho-perceptual profile obtained by online shopping and eyeball tracking could be reverse engineered to trigger specific feelings or responses is verryyy scwary 🥺😞
The idea that there’s a future where images generated by computers off of your psycho-perceptual profile obtained by online shopping and eyeball tracking could be reverse engineered to trigger specific feelings or responses is verryyy scwary 🥺😞
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.
July 1, 2026
Terrifying insights that 'meaning' in visual culture has become secondary to the power of images to trigger effects and that human attention has moved beyond being the product/commodity of media and become its raw material.
Paglen writes excellently and fills his essays with illustrative and genuinely fascinating case studies, including some new-to-me MKULTRA programs and connections.
Paglen writes excellently and fills his essays with illustrative and genuinely fascinating case studies, including some new-to-me MKULTRA programs and connections.
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.
Read
June 6, 2026A great primer for the technological changes and epistemological consequences that have occurred in the last ten years. Paglen has recently made headlines with his speculation that Caravaggio and Da Vinci would embrace modern technologies, which has perhaps made him appear (in the mainstream) as an AI-optimist or evangelist, but these essays make it clear that he is approaching our current moment with a fascination that is deeply critical.
July 1, 2026
This book, a consideration of the image in the age of AI, is so crucial, so timely (overdue, even), so needed. Rather than an essay collection, I wanted this book to be a polemic railing against the distortion and manipulation of our senses and cognition, but when considered as an art book in the style of Barthes or Berger (thanks, Tim), I think the project ultimately offers sharp, generative insights and analysis. Excited to read more of Paglen's writing on AI.
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.
June 13, 2026
Fascinating and extremely relevant.
June 21, 2026
It's not good, folks! (The book is good, the broader "it" is not).
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews