Cory Doctorow: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI

Cory Doctorow is coming to the Brighton Dome on Tuesday 8 September, for a talk titled The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI. He'll be in conversation with journalist Carole Cadwalladr, and the whole thing is presented by BRIGHTHINK and The Nerve. It's a chance to hear Doctorow talk through his latest book, The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI, and the ideas he's been working on lately.

The title comes from a specific point he's making about how we're using technology. The 'centaur' is the idea of a human and an AI working together to be more productive, with the human still in the driver's seat. Doctorow argues we're actually becoming 'reverse centaurs' — workers pushed to inhuman speeds by the technology, rather than the other way around. He'll be digging into that, and into his concept of 'enshittification', the process where digital platforms get worse for the people using them as the companies behind them tighten their grip. His whole point is that we need to look at technology and ask who it's actually serving and what it's really doing.

It's a debate and literature event, so it's aimed at an adult crowd with an interest in technology, social critique and writing. There's a note that anyone under 14 needs to be accompanied in the venue. If you're coming for the books, Doctorow's titles — including The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI and Enshittification — will be available to buy on the night.

The talk is in the Corn Exchange at the Brighton Dome. Doors open at 18:45 and it kicks off at 19:30. A standard ticket is £25, and Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival members save £2 on the full price.