Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything

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Description

Over roughly the past decade, the field of artificial intelligence has taken a revolutionary leap forward and is beginning to deliver practical applications that are already transforming the world around us. The primary accelerant of this progress has been "deep learning"-a machine learning technique based on the use of multi-layered artificial neural networks of the kind employed by the researchers at Stanford.

The basic principles of deep neural networks have been understood for decades, but recent dramatic advances have been enabled by the confluence of two relentless trends in information technology: First, the arrival of vastly more powerful computers has, for the first time, allowed neural networks to transition into truly capable tools. And, second, the enormous troves of data now being generated and collected across the information economy are providing the resource that is crucial to training these networks to perform useful tasks.

As artificial intelligence is successfully applied to more and more areas, it is becoming clear that it is evolving into a uniquely consequential technology. A flexible resource that can-perhaps someday with almost a flick of a switch-apply cognitive capability to virtually any problem we face. Ultimately, this new utility will deliver not just the ability to analyse and make decisions but to solve complex problems and even exhibit creativity.

The AI Disruption explores the future implications of artificial intelligence by viewing it not as a specific innovation, but rather as a uniquely scalable and potentially disruptive technology - a powerful new utility poised to deliver a transformation that will someday rival the impact of electricity.

Reviews

Probably the most compelling single-volume book so far on AI's advance and the opportunities and challenges associated with its multi-faceted impact on the world. Those in AI and those outside it will get a lot out of his clear-eyed and critical perspective. I highly recommend it -- James Manyika, Chairman and Director of the McKinsey Global Institute

There is no technology more important today than AI. Martin Ford continues his tradition of clear insights and observations about this important topic in a well-researched page-turner. A delightful book!

-- Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and co-author of The Second Machine Age
The best up-to-date, go-to book on the social and economic implications of artificial intelligence -- Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics at George Mason University
An incisive, balanced, and well-informed discussion of where AI stands today, how it may evolve, and the risks it poses to human society -- Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Writing about the future of robotics is a dangerous endeavor, since it illuminates every aspect of our lives with a startling, uncharted perspective. Ford navigates this challenge admirably, with an exceptional blend of depth, rigor and clarity -- Judea Pearl, winner of the A.M. Turing Award and co-author of The Book of Why
Rule of the Robots is subtle and clever, a book that will challenge readers to reassess their position on AI -- Engineering And Technology
According to software developer Martin Ford, artificial intelligence (AI) will probably transform society faster than electricity did, but with unpredictable effects. His well-informed study notes a 2016 forecast that within five years, radiologists would be overtaken by advances in AI. But that hasn't happened: AI cannot currently integrate key information from sources such as clinical notes. AI's future, Ford concludes, lies somewhere between the science-fictional extremes of utopian Star Trek and dystopian The Matrix -- Nature
A good read and . . . a balanced perspective on both the benefits and costs of increasingly widespread use of AI -- Diane Coyle, Enlightenment Economics

Author Bio

Martin Ford is a futurist and the author of three books: The New York Times Bestselling Rise of the Robots: Technology and The Threat of a Jobless Future (winner of the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award and translated into more than 20 languages), Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI from the People Building It (2018), and The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future (2009). He is also the founder of a Silicon Valley-based software development firm.