Melanie Mitchell separates science fact from science fiction in this
sweeping examination of the current state of AI and how it is remaking
our world
No recent scientific enterprise has proved as alluring, terrifying, and
filled with extravagant promise and frustrating setbacks as artificial
intelligence. The award-winning author Melanie Mitchell, a leading
computer scientist, now reveals AI's turbulent history and the recent
spate of apparent successes, grand hopes, and emerging fears surrounding
it.
In Artificial Intelligence, Mitchell turns to the most urgent
questions concerning AI today: How intelligent--really--are the best AI
programs? How do they work? What can they actually do, and when do they
fail? How humanlike do we expect them to become, and how soon do we need
to worry about them surpassing us? Along the way, she introduces the
dominant models of modern AI and machine learning, describing
cutting-edge AI programs, their human inventors, and the historical
lines of thought underpinning recent achievements. She meets with fellow
experts such as Douglas Hofstadter, the cognitive scientist and Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of the modern classic Gödel, Escher, Bach, who
explains why he is "terrified" about the future of AI. She explores the
profound disconnect between the hype and the actual achievements in AI,
providing a clear sense of what the field has accomplished and how much
further it has to go.
Interweaving stories about the science of AI and the people behind it,
Artificial Intelligence brims with clear-sighted, captivating, and
accessible accounts of the most interesting and provocative modern work
in the field, flavored with Mitchell's humor and personal observations.
This frank, lively book is an indispensable guide to understanding
today's AI, its quest for "human-level" intelligence, and its impact on
the future for us all.
