How to Think About Artificial Intelligence

In this book, Richard Susskind draws on his experience working in artificial intelligence since the early 1980s. For Susskind, balancing the benefits and threats of artificial intelligence is the fundamental challenge of our time. He explores the history of artificial intelligence and the possible scenarios for its future. He considers ChatGPT and generative AI to be merely the latest chapter in the ongoing story of AI and argues that we are still in the early stages of its development. He argues that responsible consideration of AI's impact requires us to look far beyond today's technologies, suggesting that technologies yet to be invented will have a much greater impact on us in 2030 than the tools we have available today. This leads Susskind to a discussion of the possibility of conscious machines, amazing new AI-based virtual worlds, and the impact of AI on the evolution of biological humans.