Essential Books To Understand AI in the Digital Age
The rapid emergence of consumer AI and the visibility of generative AI in so many digital products and platforms today has made understanding artificial intelligence absolutely crucial. The Bombay Circle Press has put together a list of essential books to understand AI in today’s day and age.
Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari
For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.
How AI Ate the World by Chris Stokel-Walker
This accessible, up-to-date book charts Al’s rise from its origins in the Cold War to its increasing impact on us today and in the coming years. Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker (TikTok Boom and YouTubers) meets the Silicon Valley innovators making rapid advances in ‘large language models’ of machine learning like Google’s Bard and ChatGPT and reveals the extraordinary plans they have for them. And he explores the dark side of Al by talking to workers who have lost their jobs to chatbots and to futurologists worried that we are unwittingly creating a force that could destroy humankind. How Al Ate the World answers all the key questions, such as how Al will transform the way we live and work; the professions that will ultimately win and lose; and whether the likes of Elon Musk are right to warn about a looming threat to humanity. This is a pithy ‘start here’ guide for anyone who wants to know more about the next big technology that will govern our lives, whether we like it or not.
AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee—one of the world’s most respected experts on AI and China—reveals that China has suddenly caught up to the US at an astonishingly rapid and unexpected pace. In AI Superpowers, Kai-Fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power. Most experts already say that AI will have a devastating impact on blue-collar jobs. But Lee predicts that Chinese and American AI will have a strong impact on white-collar jobs as well. Is universal basic income the solution? In Lee’s opinion, probably not. But he provides a clear description of which jobs will be affected and how soon, which jobs can be enhanced with AI, and most importantly, how we can provide solutions to some of the most profound changes in human history that are coming soon.
Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick
Consumer AI has arrived. And with it, inescapable upheaval as we grapple with what it means for our jobs, lives and the future of humanity. Cutting through the noise of AI evangelists and AI doom-mongers, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick has become one of the most prominent and provocative explainers of AI, focusing on the practical aspects of how these new tools for thought can transform our world. In Co-Intelligence, he urges us to engage with AI as co-worker, co-teacher and coach. Wide ranging, hugely thought-provoking and optimistic, Co-Intelligence reveals the promise and power of this new era.
These are the essential books to understand AI, its history, economic and political context and how to live with it everyday. Take a look at The Bombay Circle Press bulletin for more book recommendations on a variety of topics.