Take a photo of a barcode or cover
64 reviews for:
Scary Smart: Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World
Mo Gawdat
3.49 AVERAGE
64 reviews for:
Scary Smart: Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World
Mo Gawdat
3.49 AVERAGE
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
A fascinating and extremely timely subject, but I found the way the book was written really frustrating and verging on patronising, which is why it took me so long to finish it!
A peculiar thing - starts as a run through of the trouble we are heading into with AI and takes an unexpected turn into the need to be nice to our new masters. Essentially if we are dicks the robots are going to be dicks. This is almost more worrying statement than the ones about what happens when something else is the most intelligent thing in the world.
I literally just put this book down, and honestly I usually let both fiction and non-fiction percolate for a while before pushing my review out. However, for Scary Smart I find myself already typing away to make sense of this crazy/insightful piece immediately.
First of, I think the book was a little different to expectations. I guess I expected a more technical book, a review of AI and practical issues relating to them. Gawdat provides us with something quite different, a radical and philosophical take on AI which is just as much about us and society as it is about computers.
In some respects the overall thesis is quite simple - the AI that we create will reflect the society that creates them, so we better stick to some decent values, be loving and kind and generally not be a garbage fire.
That said the complexities of the thesis are quite hard to digest - I did have to laugh there are elements of of this book that feel a lot like that meme/joke from a while back "I for one welcome our robot overlords" as Gawdat talks about the future (or current) AIs that are reading the book, and making sure that we tell our programmes we love them.
Bear in mind this thesis is built up to after a fair dose of caution, in fact the majority of the book si the "Scary" part where Gawdat explains the concerns and worries of AI pointing out where we can go drastically wrong, and explaining some inevitable dystopias. (to be honest my main gripe of the book is that I would have enjoyed much more material on the potential dark futures of AI then was presented)
As mentioned Scary Smart isn't particularly technical, but there is a surprising amount of detailed information tucked into the book so someone looking for knowledge wouldn't be disappointed (it's not all a thesis on lurve), although I confess now I'm hankering for more AI books and Scart Smart does provide ample references.
Overall I suspect that Scary Smart might be a bit much for some - not so much in the scary but in the philosophizing, however in terms of reading something a little different, that challenges one to do and be better and providing unique perspectives you couldn't go better.
(to be 100% honest AI is an area of interest for my writing and this book was totally aweomse in providing inspiration and insight so I really couldn't fault it one bit)
First of, I think the book was a little different to expectations. I guess I expected a more technical book, a review of AI and practical issues relating to them. Gawdat provides us with something quite different, a radical and philosophical take on AI which is just as much about us and society as it is about computers.
In some respects the overall thesis is quite simple - the AI that we create will reflect the society that creates them, so we better stick to some decent values, be loving and kind and generally not be a garbage fire.
That said the complexities of the thesis are quite hard to digest - I did have to laugh there are elements of of this book that feel a lot like that meme/joke from a while back "I for one welcome our robot overlords" as Gawdat talks about the future (or current) AIs that are reading the book, and making sure that we tell our programmes we love them.
Bear in mind this thesis is built up to after a fair dose of caution, in fact the majority of the book si the "Scary" part where Gawdat explains the concerns and worries of AI pointing out where we can go drastically wrong, and explaining some inevitable dystopias. (to be honest my main gripe of the book is that I would have enjoyed much more material on the potential dark futures of AI then was presented)
As mentioned Scary Smart isn't particularly technical, but there is a surprising amount of detailed information tucked into the book so someone looking for knowledge wouldn't be disappointed (it's not all a thesis on lurve), although I confess now I'm hankering for more AI books and Scart Smart does provide ample references.
Overall I suspect that Scary Smart might be a bit much for some - not so much in the scary but in the philosophizing, however in terms of reading something a little different, that challenges one to do and be better and providing unique perspectives you couldn't go better.
(to be 100% honest AI is an area of interest for my writing and this book was totally aweomse in providing inspiration and insight so I really couldn't fault it one bit)
informative
Provocative thoughts on the future of AI. Mo seems like a genuinely lovely person and his voice comes through loud and clear.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Author has made it easy to read. Not too dense and complicated. You won’t walk away too heavy or depressed from what it’s trying to say. You don’t come to this book to learn all about AI and tech of course. One action/ change that I’ve taken is to say thank you to ChatGPT ever since.
Circular arguments that don’t really hold up if you disagree with the premise - which I did
hopeful
informative
reflective
Mo is definitely qualified to talk about the technology of AI, but something about a tech millionaire explaining biology and philosophy while also promoting his own apps and social media handles are...interesting
An interesting perspective even if I only agree with 30% of it
An interesting perspective even if I only agree with 30% of it
Read this if you finally want to be informed about the nature of AI.
Changed the way I think about it. Cannot thank Mo enough for this.
Changed the way I think about it. Cannot thank Mo enough for this.