How AI Ate the World

A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence – and Its Long Future

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Postscript summary

Can machines really think like humans? This accessible survey follows the development of AI from theoretical origins in the 1950s through practical use in industrial automation in the 1980s to widespread application today. It also evaluates concerns about the technology’s implications for jobs, copyright and privacy; bias in its algorithms; its potential to assume a life of its own; and its effects on all our lives.

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UKTN Technology Book of the Year

'Easily the most comprehensive book on AI I have read so far, covering all the key issues.' Peter Hunt, Business & Tech Correspondent, Evening Standard

How AI Ate the World: A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence - and Its Long Future is your essential guide to how AI went from sci-fi fantasy to the engine quietly (and not so quietly) reshaping work, art, politics and everyday life.

Blending clear explanation with vivid storytelling and investigative reporting, Chris Stokel-Walker takes you from the early visions of Alan Turing and the Dartmouth conference, through the AI winters and chip wars, to today's boom in ChatGPT, OpenAI, Midjourney, large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. Along the way, you'll see how AI spread from research labs into search engines, social media, finance, healthcare, policing, the creative industries and your phone.

Through real-world stories - including the viral "Pope in a puffer jacket" deepfake created with Midjourney - the book shows how easy-to-use AI tools can delight, disrupt and deceive, and why almost nobody using them has really thought through the consequences.

Inside this book you'll discover

The origins of artificial intelligence: magic mushrooms and Midjourney, the "fathers of AI", the first AI chess programs, the birth of OpenAI and the partnership with Microsoft.

How AI winters, Cold War machine translation projects and government cuts nearly killed AI - and how it came roaring back.

The battle for AI chips and the hardware arms race driving today's machine learning and deep learning boom.

How AI is transforming work: automation, productivity tools, "AI doomer" fears about job losses, and the new role of prompt engineers.

The creative explosion - and backlash - around AI art, AI music and generative image models such as Midjourney.

The dark side of AI: misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes, profit before people and coded bias that can entrench racism, sexism and inequality.

AI's environmental impact and the huge energy cost of training the latest models.

Perfect for readers who care about...

Artificial intelligence, AI history, machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, large language models (LLMs), generative AI, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Midjourney, Google, Microsoft, big tech and Silicon Valley

The future of work, automation, robotics, productivity, digital transformation and tech in business

AI ethics, AI safety, algorithmic bias, surveillance, data privacy, misinformation, disinformation, online propaganda and deepfakes

Technology and society, internet culture, social media, digital art, creativity, the creator economy and the politics of tech

If you've ever wondered how we got from clunky Cold War translation machines to chatbots that can write essays, or image models that can fool millions with a fake photo, this book lays out the story with clarity, wit and urgency.

Add the paperback to your basket now and discover how AI really ate the world - and what we can still do about it.

Reviews

'A witty, engaging book that takes us through AI's bumpy past to help us understand its present, and future, impacts.' Sasha Luccioni, Hugging Face

'Easily the most comprehensive book on AI I have read so far, covering all the key issues.' Peter Hunt, Business & Tech Correspondent, Evening Standard

'A comprehensive and compelling look at the technology that's transforming our world. It's an essential guide, full of surprises, to the technology you need to know.' Matt Navarra, social media expert

'It is short, gloriously succinct and yet manages to cover all four bases of the history, technology, business and politics of AI in page-turning detail. I can't think of anything it missed. Do yourself a favour: avoid the second-rate AI books and give this comprehensive one a try. It is the ideal primer for those new to the industry.' UKTN Technology Book of the Year

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