In today’s technology-driven world, it’s essential to evaluate questions about the past, present, and future of technology like artificial intelligence (AI). AI is a rapidly evolving form of technology, but one way we can learn more about it is through books. Here are a few publications that offer an in-depth look into AI and its impact on the world:
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Nick Bostrom, a Swedish-born philosopher, uses his background in theoretical physics, computational neuroscience, logic, AI, and philosophy to discuss the possibility of machine brains surpassing human brains in general intelligence. In his New York Times bestseller, he reveals that a new superintelligence could replace humans as the dominant lifeform on earth, potentially destroying us. However, the book also evaluates the control humans currently have over the development of a superintelligence. According to the book, we could theoretically engineer conditions that would allow us to survive an intelligence explosion and still come out as the dominant life form.
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New York Times bestselling authors Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler provide readers with a practical guide to technological convergence in the modern era. The authors examine how the rapid development of accelerated technologies will impact our daily lives and society. They speculate about how forms of technology like AI, robotics, virtual reality, and digital biology will converge with 3D printing, blockchain, and global gigabit networks.
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Fiction is just as important as non-fiction when it comes to evaluating AI. The trilogy of books Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation, written by Isaac Asimov, play a role in predicting future technologies. In the book, Hari Seldon and his team of psychologists are faced with a crumbling, old empire. They must create a new organization, called the Foundation, charged with building a new empire. This author and series was the genesis of The Three Laws of Robotics, also known as Asimov’s Law. You can find more sci-fi books that explore the possible future of AI here.
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Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Authors Stuart Russell and Dr. Peter Norvig provide readers with one of the most up-to-date books on AI. In this academic book, readers uncover an introduction to the theory and practice of AI. The fourth edition expands the sections on machine learning, deep learning, transfer learning, multiagent systems, robotics, natural language processing, causality, probabilistic programming, privacy, fairness, and safe AI.
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AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is the world’s most respected author and expert on AI and China. In this book, he reveals how quickly China has caught up to the United States’ AI technology. Lee evaluates the AI competition between the two countries and how AI could impact white-collar jobs. He lays out an articulate description of the jobs that will be undermined by AI and which jobs will be enhanced by AI. The author also offers solutions to some of the technological changes AI will bring in the future.
