ABSTRACT
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a familiar feature of the contemporary city. The aim of this chapter is to explore the meaning and practise of artificial intelligence in cities. First, the chapter clarifies the notion of artificial intelligence in general. Drawing mostly upon philosophy and computer science, it elucidates the key conceptual and technological characteristics of artificially intelligent entities. Second, the chapter examines the main manifestations of AI, specifically in cities. The growing presence of artificial intelligences in the built environment is not interpreted as an abrupt phenomenon, but rather as a long-term process of technological and urban development, culminating in the passage from automation to autonomy. The chapter focuses on three categories (self-driving cars, robots and city brains) revealing the diverse roles, functions and materialities which AI can possess in the city. Third, after having delineated the contours of what the chapter terms the autonomous city, the discussion delves into the sustainability implications of the diffusion of urban artificial intelligences. In the end, the chapter finds in the constant tension between AI and ethics, the mother of all challenges which cities face in the era of artificial intelligence, arguing that without philosophical inquiry and intellectual debate, technological innovation alone will not suffice to make the autonomous city a sustainable city.
