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Hot Topics in Science: Learn More About Artificial Intelligence

by Megan Fenton on 2018-11-16T09:30:00-05:00 in What To Read | 0 Comments

"Siri, call Mom!"

"Okay Google, how long will it take me to get to the Greenburgh Library?"

"Alexa, play Taylor Swift!"

Do any of these phrases sound familiar? If you regularly ask digital assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa questions like these, you are a user of artificial intelligence (AI)! While the topic of AI has been in the news a lot over the past few years (think computer vision and autonomous cars), the concept has actually been around for quite some time-- a machine's ability to think like, or to mimic the way that a human thinks and behaves.

Early science fiction and literature considered what it would mean for artificial beings or machines to exhibit intelligent thoughts and behavior, like in Samuel Butler's Erewhon, Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, or Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. But it was in the 1950s that the concept of AI got one step closer to becoming reality when Alan Turing (a pioneer in theoretical computer science) introduced the Turning Test, a test designed to measure a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human. Turing's work was extremely influential, and it is still an important concept in the field of Artificial Intelligence, even today.

Artificial Intelligence is now used to address many different problems, and is being developed and utilized in a diversity of fields- from military science to entertainment, and even the healthcare industry. But the use of AI has also raised many ethical questions about privacy, autonomy, and existential risks, which several great minds advise that we consider as these technologies begin to reach more of us economically and personally.

Are you interested in reading more about Artificial Intelligence? Where it comes from and how it's used? Ethical considerations? Check out these great titles at the library to bring you up to speed on this hot topic!

How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil

"The bold futurist and best selling author explores the limitless potential of reverse-engineering the human brain. Ray Kurzweil is arguably today's most influential--and often controversial--futurist. In How to Create a Mind, Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization--reverse engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines."

Life 3. 0 by Max Tegmark

"How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology--and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial."

Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom

"Superintelligence asks the questions: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life. The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. If machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful - possibly beyond our control."

The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos

"In the world's top research labs and universities, the race is on to invent the ultimate learning algorithm: one capable of discovering any knowledge from data, and doing anything we want, before we even ask. In The Master Algorithm, Pedro Domingos lifts the veil to give us a peek inside the learning machines that power Google, Amazon, and your smartphone. He assembles a blueprint for the future universal learner--the Master Algorithm--and discusses what it will mean for business, science, and society. If data-ism is today's philosophy, this book is its bible."

Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford

"What are the jobs of the future? How many will there be? And who will have them? We might imagine--and hope--that today’s industrial revolution will unfold like the last: even as some jobs are eliminated, more will be created to deal with the new innovations of a new era. In Rise of the Robots, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Ford argues that this is absolutely not the case."

Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter

"Winner of the Pulitzer Prize- A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll. Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of "maps" or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more."

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Hot Topics in Science: Learn More About Artificial Intelligence