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funny
informative
fast-paced
This had to be one of the hardest books to convert to audio; in fact, Audible provides a PDF file as part of the book download for those who can take advantage of that. Despite its inherent extremely visual leanings, I found the book fascinating throughout and a little dense in a place or two. But you need to know you don't have to be a coder to understand this. I had bought into the constant drumbeat that AI would render us all obsolete in a few years; I feared we would be considered as dumb as house flies to AI. Shane has liberated me from such nonsense, and I'll be forever in her debt. She has also done a nice job here of helping me see that AI and human partnerships are very much here to stay for the foreseeable future. But what fascinated me the most was her descriptions of how AI learns and which branch of it you and I contact when we do various things as part of our day. Pay attention to the glossary early on in the book. That's good information you'll need throughout to better understand some of the differences both in tasks asked to perform andin how those tasks are learned and performed.
She references image learning here and mentioned Microsoft's Seeing AI, an app I use very nearly every day. I love that app, for the record. It accomplishes for free far more impressive things than a paid competitor app, but that's not for this arena. My apologies for the digression.
Shane shows you how biases can creep into algorithms. You'll see some of the more humorous things about AI and why self-driving cars may be farther in our future than many would believe.
If you've ever been fearful or confused about AI and how it really works, this book will help you better understand it and replace fear with knowledge. You're going to feel much more sanguine about the future of co-existence between people and AI as well. I found after I read this that I was more patient and less demanding of my Amazon Echo Dot. Asking it to chat brings up some kind of AI social bot, and some of those conversations are beyond bizarre and anything but rewarding. After reading this book, I could understand a bit better why those bizarre conversations happen.
I heard this author interviewed on either BBC Radio 4 or the BBC World Service--I've forgotten which channel I had tuned in late at night. But it was the interview that convinced me I had to read the book. Yes, I spent a precious Audible credit for it, but it was well worth the expenditure. Still, if you can read the print edition, that may well be the best way to go I'll bet some of the AI-composed poems and recipes included here are even more impactful if you can get at them visually.
She references image learning here and mentioned Microsoft's Seeing AI, an app I use very nearly every day. I love that app, for the record. It accomplishes for free far more impressive things than a paid competitor app, but that's not for this arena. My apologies for the digression.
Shane shows you how biases can creep into algorithms. You'll see some of the more humorous things about AI and why self-driving cars may be farther in our future than many would believe.
If you've ever been fearful or confused about AI and how it really works, this book will help you better understand it and replace fear with knowledge. You're going to feel much more sanguine about the future of co-existence between people and AI as well. I found after I read this that I was more patient and less demanding of my Amazon Echo Dot. Asking it to chat brings up some kind of AI social bot, and some of those conversations are beyond bizarre and anything but rewarding. After reading this book, I could understand a bit better why those bizarre conversations happen.
I heard this author interviewed on either BBC Radio 4 or the BBC World Service--I've forgotten which channel I had tuned in late at night. But it was the interview that convinced me I had to read the book. Yes, I spent a precious Audible credit for it, but it was well worth the expenditure. Still, if you can read the print edition, that may well be the best way to go I'll bet some of the AI-composed poems and recipes included here are even more impactful if you can get at them visually.
funny
informative
fast-paced
TLDR: AI are basically three toddlers in a trench coat pretending to be an adult at a movie theatre.
funny
informative
lighthearted
This is an entertaining and engaging overview of concepts to do with AI--what it is, what it can and can't do--that is easy to understand and very entertaining. There are the sorts of nonsensical lists that Ms. Shane has posted online under the AI Weirdness banner along with rather charming illustrative cartoons. If you follow her online, you'll like her book.
Giraffes.
Giraffes.
I loved that this demystified aspects of AI! Self-driving cars, google translate, how AI learns bias from humans, etc. The format wasn't my favorite, it was like a textbook that's trying VERY hard to be funny and accessible. Instead of chapters that teach each aspect of machine learning through anecdotes, I would have preferred some deeper dives into case studies.
What a delightful, informative read! I would have loved even a bit more info throughout, but the insights in this are great.
A brief, accessible survey of some quirks of current AI technology and how they could make the world a worse place if humans don't learn to do better.
This book was fun and informative enough to be worth reading, but it was also a little thin and repetitive at times. I do feel like I know more about how algorithms work and how they can go wrong, so there we go - mission accomplished.
funny
informative
medium-paced