Rule of the robots: how artificial intelligence will transform everything
Description
"If you have a smartphone, you have AI in your pocket. It's everywhere online. And it has already changed how doctors diagnose disease as well as how you interact with friends or read the news. But In Rule of the Robots, Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Martin Ford argues that true disruption is yet to come, as AI ceases to be a tool applied to specific problems, and becomes a utility: the industrial foundation upon which practically all activity-personal, economic, and political-is based. Ford calls it an "electricity of intelligence." Not so long ago, running a machine required animals, or access to water, and was completely unportable. Electricity turned power into a utility-something cheap and omnipresent. The change enabled us to do work wherever wewanted, and it radically altered every aspect of life, from our diets to our jobs to our entertainment. In Rule of the Robots, Ford shows how AI-heretofore as specialized as a water mill was 200 years ago-is breaking free from its bonds, becoming as ubiquitous and simple to use as a power jack and an extension cord. No one would begin any enterprise, no matter how minor, without power or running water. Ford argues the same will go for AI in the future: the police will rely on it as they surveil us; our business partners as they decide how to work with us and their own customers; schools as they weigh how to teach our children; and probably even you, as you try to juggle the tasks of work and home. This is no mere tech tour of today. Ford has already proven incredibly prescient about the future of AI and work in Rise of the Robots. Thanks to his connections in the AI community, Ford isn't simply reporting on tools, like deep neural networks, that already exist: he is able to map out the course of the technology's future as well; who's full of hot air and who might delivery on what they've promised. That access enables him to see what is likely to change in the near term, and what will take longer, giving us time to implement the necessary political and social measures to ensure that society shapes its own future, rather than simply being driven by the consequences of our technology. Those consequences will be profound. Running water eradicated a great many diseases from our midst, and electricity banisheddarkness. Ubiquitous AI promises empowerment, but it also threatens to infantilize us. In the right hands, as Ford shows, AI should help us best coronavirus and escape the worst consequences of climate change. In the wrong ones, it will empower totalitarianism and put us all out of work. We are in the midst of the ultimate disruption. Rule of the Robots is the essential guide to not just whether we thrive in it, but even if we just manage to survive"--
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ISBN
9781541674738
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Published Reviews
Choice Review
Futurist and software development entrepreneur Ford explains the current realities of artificial intelligence (AI) and depicts how the future may evolve. He convincingly argues that AI will become analogous to electricity, both technologies having applications so broad that they transform society in fundamental ways. Ford self-identifies as a realist who sees AI as an increasingly important technology, whether we like it or not. The book's title, however, is somewhat misleading in that robotic "rule" of society is by no means a certainty. In earlier work, Ford suggested ways of meeting challenges to "conventional understanding[s] of existing economic and workforce models" (see Rise of the Robots, CH, Sep'15, 53-0326). Here, he argues that superintelligence is at best a century away and that humans may be smart enough meanwhile to build in controls against its dark side. For now, Ford identifies areas of potential benefit (e.g., improved medical diagnostics) and profound harm (e.g., methods of social control). For some threats, he admits that good responses are either unclear or politically distasteful. For others, Ford continues to offer solutions, arguing for example that universal basic income can address the massive unemployment expected to result from AI. Well-written and up-to-date, although scary in places. This book is a pleasure to read. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --Robert E. O'Connor, National Science Foundation
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
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