How AI Ate the World

'An excellent starter for those who want to gain an insight into how AI works and why it's likely to shape our lives.' – The Daily Telegraph

Artificial intelligence will shake up our lives as thoroughly as the arrival of the internet. This popular, up-to-date book charts AI’s rise from its Cold War origins to its explosive growth in the 2020s.

Tech journalist Chris Stokel-Walker (TikTok Boom and YouTubers) goes into the laboratories of the Silicon Valley innovators making rapid advances in ‘large language models’ of machine learning. He meets the insiders at Google and OpenAI who built Gemini and ChatGPT and reveals the extraordinary plans they have for them. 

Along the way, he explores AI’s dark side by talking to workers who have lost their jobs to bots and engages with futurologists worried that a man-made super-intelligence could threaten humankind.

He answers critical questions about the AI revolution, such as what humanity might be jeopardising and the professions that will win and lose – and whether the existential threat technologists Elon Musk and Sam Altman are warning about is realistic – or a smokescreen to divert attention away from their growing power.

How AI Ate the World is a ‘start here’ guide for anyone who wants to know more about the world we have just entered.

Reviews

'An excellent starter for those who want to gain an insight into how AI works and why it's likely to shape our lives.' The Daily Telegraph

'How AI Ate the World prodigiously captures the key issues and concerns around artificial intelligence.' Azeem Azhar, Exponential View

'From ancient China to Victorian England, How AI Ate The World is the story of the characters, moments, technologies, and relationships that populate the rich history of artificial intelligence... How AI Ate The World grapples with what the age of automation means for the people living through it.' Harry Law, University of Cambridge 

'A witty, engaging book that takes us through AI's bumpy past to help us understand its present, and future, impacts. I highly recommend it to anyone who is impacted by AI tech – which is to say, everyone on the planet.' Sasha Luccioni, Hugging Face

'Easily the most comprehensive book on AI I have read so far,...read more...