"The prediction algorithms that have become central to everything from supply chains, to sports, to autonomous vehicles, to healthcare are increasingly sophisticated. These algorithms no longer merely predict the future; instead, they move from past, to algorithmic future, to present, then to the actual future. In Ex Ante, John Cheney-Lippold offers a bold framework for understanding how algorithmic prediction actively remakes the present in its image and defines our contemporary life. Drawing on the concept of ex ante--"before the event"--Cheney-Lippold develops a theory of temporality and technology, arguing that, rather than the commonsense view of time as consisting of past, present, and future, real-time predictions produced by machine learning and AI systems constitute a distinct temporal phenomenon. Unlike conventional futures, which orient us toward distant possibilities, real-time futures hover on the present, calibrating behavior, desire, and decision-making before the moment of action even arrives. These futures radically reshape and facilitate what may come next and constitute what Cheney-Lippold calls a mode of temporal production. But what people and institutions are driving these futures, and what happens to business, culture, politics, and daily life as we become further indebted to these calculated futures? Ex Ante offers an exploration and powerful critique of our algorithmic present and the powers behind it"-- Provided by publisher.