These Strange New Minds: How AI Learned to Talk and What It Means

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How the technology that is revolutionising our world actually works, and what that means, from the Research Director at the UK government's AI Safety Institute Stunning advances in digital technology have given us a new wave of disarmingly human-like AI systems. The march of this new technology is set to upturn our economies, challenge our democracies, and refashion society in unpredictable ways. We can expect these AI systems to soon be making autonomous decisions on the user's behalf, with transformative impact on everything we do. It is vital we understand how they work. Can AI systems 'think', 'know' and 'understand' Could they manipulate or deceive you, and if so, what might they make you do Whose interests do they ultimately represent And when will they be able to move beyond words and take actions for themselves in the real world Ultimately, can we look forward to a technological utopia, or are we in the process of writing ourselves out of history

Reviews

An engaging, insightful and panoramic survey of where we are, why we got here and what it means. A brilliant guide to the most important technology of our times -- Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI & Cofounder of DeepMind
Witty, brilliant, and deeply thought through by far the best guide to a newly emerging species with which we will share the planet for the foreseeable future -- Stuart Russell, author of Human Compatible
As a leading authority in both computational neuroscience and the social impacts of AI, Christopher Summerfield is perfectly situated to explore the meaning and implications of these machines that are so uncannily like and unlike ourselves -- Brian Christian, co-author of Algorithms to Live by
The unprecedented success of Large Language Models like ChatGPT took the AI world by surprise, and sent shock waves through silicon valley. We are now at a unique moment in human history, with powerful general-purpose AI tools available for the first time. But how do these weird tools work How will they develop And what does it mean for humanity AI expert Chris Summerfield takes us on a tour of this astonishing new technology, and helps us to understand the issues it raises. You might choose to be alarmed, excited, or indifferent to LLMs, but you should read Chriss book before you decide -- Mike Woolridge, author of The Road to Conscious Machines

Author Bio

Christopher Summerfield has one foot in the field neuroscience - studying the brains of humans, as Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford - and the other in AI research, as Research Director at the UK AI Safety Institute. Previously, he built intelligent systems at the pioneering Google DeepMind. He has won several awards, including the prestigious Cognitive Neuroscience Society Young Investigator Award in 2015. He is regularly invited to give keynote talks across the world. Christopher has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters and his academic book, Natural General Intelligence- How Understanding the Brain Can Help Us Build AI, was widely acclaimed. This is his first book for a general readership.