The current wave of automation, spurred by developments in artifcial intelligence(AI), has been described as the second machine age (Brynjolfsson and McAfee,2014) and the fourth industrial revolution (Schwab, 2017). One important partof this new era of smart machines is large-scale automation, not only of industrialproduction but also, and more importantly, of our everyday lives. Smart devicesand the internet of things are supposed to make our lives, including our homes,smoother and more efcient. The historical descriptions of these tremendouschanges often depict a linear development from steam-powered industrialisationand mass production (which also includes the invention of the railway and masstransportation of the frst machine age) to large-scale digitalisation with the helpof computers that is often depicted as replacing cognitive power. As Brynjolfssonand McAfee argue, what steam power was for the industrial age, the computer isfor the second machine age.This chapter aims to critique histories of automation that draw a picture oftechnological development as a teleological movement from industrial automationto ‘smart’ machines, moving from the automation of manual tasks to automatingcognitive labour. Instead, we demonstrate that technological innovation isnever straightforward but characterised by failures and dead ends as well as specifcchoices that are anchored in the social and political contexts rather than a naturalevolution towards the ‘best’ technological solutions. Drawing on visualisations ofautomation in Swedish mainstream press since the 1950s, we focus on critical juncturesof automation – such moments where it becomes apparent that automationdevelops into a diferent direction than initially imagined. By drawing on thesematerials, we emphasise the importance of mundane ways of imagining technologicalchange as a way of meaning-making.