Hito Steyerl is one of the most celebrated artists of our time. Her work both as an artist and
a writer has consistently challenged the political boundaries between art and technology. In
this new collection of groundbreaking essays she explores how AI the use of large language
models and the algorithmic creation of imagery transform our understanding of the world. She
argues that such practices cannot be divorced from the economic and political conditions of the
times. Medium Hot is a collection of scintillating meditations on the limits of art and
technology: the essential handbook for the present conjuncture. The pieces here probe the
manufacture and distribution of images in the age of AI and climate change. She asks whether
art can be made not only by machines but for machines. She argues against the production of
images that heat up the planet disfranchise workers and fuel the arms trade and questions
whether such creations can even be called art. In an era of such rapid change Steyerl does
vital work investigating whether machine learning will infiltrate every aspect of our lives and
what that means for the future.
