Automating Media

Search engines, paywalls, bots, targeted ads: we already share our media worlds with machines – and with the rise of generative AI, new ones are coming.

Automating Media is an accessible, incisive guide to the new wave of automation transforming contemporary culture and communication. Drawing on extensive research, the book sheds new light on the key technologies, infrastructures, industry convulsions and cultural innovations characterizing media automation. The authors pinpoint where automation is happening, introduce the organizations making it happen, and critically assess debates over its consequences. They outline the implications of automation for knowledge practices, entertainment and culture, and highlight its potential impact on other spheres.

Filled with contemporary and historical examples, Automating Media shows how current developments see the return of questions and conflicts provoked by earlier moments of technological change, while also presenting new challenges. It is enlightening reading for advanced students and scholars of Media and Communication Studies, Internet Studies and industry practitioners.