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amoniker's review
1.0
Abstract and repetitious. Academic in a pejorative sense - fruitlessly theoretical. It read like a collegiate essay on the most obvious sociopolitical ramifications of AI, that had been padded out to book-length by rehashing totally unrelated major historical events, written in the dry style of an encyclopedia. Who was the intended audience of this book? What was its purpose? Were there any genuine insights here? It left me wondering if the book itself had been written by GPT-3.
archiearchie's review
2.0
This is really rather an awful book for a number of reasons; the first of which being that it's quite dense. The bits that aren't talking about AI, which are numerous, are uninteresting and say rather a lot without actually saying much at all.
The second of which being that it makes arguments with little substance about the mystical and unknowable elements of AI in order to bolster the legitimacy of the coming technocratic system that has been so long in the making.
The only reason I finished the book is to gain an understanding of Eric Schmidt's overarching views on AI, as one of the more important AI Tsars of the US. Schmidt has controlled a large portion of the Biden administration's policy on science through the funding of salaries (illegally) of over 24 of Biden's top officials and advisors. Additionally, he was the chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) and the chair of the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board under both Obama and Trump. As the former CEO of Google and chair of Alphabet, he is emblematic of the fusion between the national security state and silicon valley and thus an important voice to listen in such discussions about AI.
Kissinger is obviously the world's most famous war criminal and in the years before his death had styled Schmidt as his protégé. He represents another wholly unsavoury character that has had an outsized influence on US foreign policy for decades.
The authors of this book use only two examples that are covered in very little death to argue that "AI accesses reality differently from the way humans access it" and that this reality is "in many respects, inscrutable to us". The two examples used to (barely) illustrate this are the models AlphaZero, which developed novel chess strategies, and a model used to discover a previously unrealised antibiotic called halicin. Their basic premise is that because these two AI models have managed to discover something that until then no human had conceived/perceived, AI's must occupy a "different 'mental' plane from humans" and thus are going to fundamentally change how humans perceive and interact with reality. They state that the eventual reliance on AI by the masses is going to reduce their cognitive functions and ability to reason such that society will no longer be perceived to be free. The real kicker here is that, as a result of this, AI is going to create a two tiered society where the masses that can no longer intuit reality without the aid of an AI are going to be ruled over by the "leadership of a small group of respected figures from the highest levels of government, business, and academia"; those that program and control AI policy, i.e, people like Schmidt and Kissinger.
It really reads like a dystopian novel about the mystical nature of AI and even invokes ideas about new religions forming around the premise of the inscrutable nature of AI's decision making through the access to different planes of reality and thought. In reality, it's a love song to the technocratic elite that Kissinger and Schmidt belong to without much substance given to backing up any of their ideas. Regardless of this, I believe it to be important reading for understanding where society is going to be moved over the coming years, as when people like this tell you their plans and what they think, we really ought to listen.
The second of which being that it makes arguments with little substance about the mystical and unknowable elements of AI in order to bolster the legitimacy of the coming technocratic system that has been so long in the making.
The only reason I finished the book is to gain an understanding of Eric Schmidt's overarching views on AI, as one of the more important AI Tsars of the US. Schmidt has controlled a large portion of the Biden administration's policy on science through the funding of salaries (illegally) of over 24 of Biden's top officials and advisors. Additionally, he was the chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) and the chair of the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board under both Obama and Trump. As the former CEO of Google and chair of Alphabet, he is emblematic of the fusion between the national security state and silicon valley and thus an important voice to listen in such discussions about AI.
Kissinger is obviously the world's most famous war criminal and in the years before his death had styled Schmidt as his protégé. He represents another wholly unsavoury character that has had an outsized influence on US foreign policy for decades.
The authors of this book use only two examples that are covered in very little death to argue that "AI accesses reality differently from the way humans access it" and that this reality is "in many respects, inscrutable to us". The two examples used to (barely) illustrate this are the models AlphaZero, which developed novel chess strategies, and a model used to discover a previously unrealised antibiotic called halicin. Their basic premise is that because these two AI models have managed to discover something that until then no human had conceived/perceived, AI's must occupy a "different 'mental' plane from humans" and thus are going to fundamentally change how humans perceive and interact with reality. They state that the eventual reliance on AI by the masses is going to reduce their cognitive functions and ability to reason such that society will no longer be perceived to be free. The real kicker here is that, as a result of this, AI is going to create a two tiered society where the masses that can no longer intuit reality without the aid of an AI are going to be ruled over by the "leadership of a small group of respected figures from the highest levels of government, business, and academia"; those that program and control AI policy, i.e, people like Schmidt and Kissinger.
It really reads like a dystopian novel about the mystical nature of AI and even invokes ideas about new religions forming around the premise of the inscrutable nature of AI's decision making through the access to different planes of reality and thought. In reality, it's a love song to the technocratic elite that Kissinger and Schmidt belong to without much substance given to backing up any of their ideas. Regardless of this, I believe it to be important reading for understanding where society is going to be moved over the coming years, as when people like this tell you their plans and what they think, we really ought to listen.
espenhk's review
3.0
This isn’t a technically detailed book, and it wastes time in the opening chapters covering a lot of background, some word which could definitely have been cut. If you want technical detail, look elsewhere.
It does however provide a high-level overview of the current state of AI and its future prospects, from a perspective likely most useful for policymakers/high-level decision makers.
The final three chapters - on weapons, consequences for humanity and the way forward - are great.
I believe the book is slightly behind the current state of explainability and options to “look inside” the black box of AI models, but I’m willing to forgive that. Don’t regret reading, but not blown away.
It does however provide a high-level overview of the current state of AI and its future prospects, from a perspective likely most useful for policymakers/high-level decision makers.
The final three chapters - on weapons, consequences for humanity and the way forward - are great.
I believe the book is slightly behind the current state of explainability and options to “look inside” the black box of AI models, but I’m willing to forgive that. Don’t regret reading, but not blown away.
librarytech4's review against another edition
3.0
This book is different from other A. I. Information I have read in that it doesn’t take a stance on A. I. Being good or bad, but explains the benefits and disadvantages of having a society with A. I and allows the reader to come to their own conclusions about A. I.
The authors explain how A. I. could be helpful to our society by helping to cure diseases, find solutions to problems, etc. But this book also explains how A. I. could get out of control as it starts to learn more information that we don’t understand ourselves. I loved how the authors are so unbiased in this book and present just the facts.
The authors explain how A. I. could be helpful to our society by helping to cure diseases, find solutions to problems, etc. But this book also explains how A. I. could get out of control as it starts to learn more information that we don’t understand ourselves. I loved how the authors are so unbiased in this book and present just the facts.