Divination EnginesNatural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, and the Making of Algorithmic Culture\nAuthor(s): Xiaochang Li\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: The University of Chicago Press, United States\nImprint: University of Chicago Press\nISBN-13: 9780226837017, 978-0226837017\nSynopsis\nA revealing and surprising origin story, showing how attempts to render human speech and language computable led from the era of big data to todays AI.\n\nSince the advent of computers, society has fantasized about conversing with machines. In this eye-opening book, technology expert Xiaochang Li shows readers how that dream both fueled the demand for data and set the stage for todays generative AI. With original research and clear explanations, Li elucidates the origins of whats known as natural language processing (NLP) and the heated twentieth-century debates between computer scientists, linguists, and communication engineers that shaped todays technology. Starting with early devices t.