Commentary: Talking to Machines Knowledge Production and Social Relations in the Age of Governance by Data Infrastructure

Algorithmic regimes are firmly installed at the core social organization, affecting the way we interact with the world around us. This exercise of "taking to machines, " however, raises three critical questions: the opacity of the infrastructure, the potential social costs, and the generative qualities of algorithmic systems able to reshape politics and the polity. These developments are the manifestation of a (relatively new) form of governance-"governance by data infrastructure"-capable of moulding social interactions in ways that jeopardize citizen agency. From the vantage point of critical data studies, this commentary describes the main features of governance by data infrastructure, exposing what kinds of knowledge are produced by these practices and what publics are evoked-and why we should worry.