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The Myth of Artificial Intelligence
Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do
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The Myth of Artificial Intelligence
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Futurists are certain that humanlike AI is on the horizon, but in fact engineers have no idea how to program human reasoning. AI reasons from statistical correlations across data sets, while common sense is based heavily on conjecture. Erik Larson argues that hyping existing methods will only hold us back from developing truly humanlike AI.
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"If you want to know about AI, read this book. It shows how a supposedly futuristic reverence for Artificial Intelligence retards progress when it denigrates our most irreplaceable resource for any future progress: our own human intelligence."
-Peter Thiel
"Larson worries that we're making two mistakes at once, defining human intelligence down while overestimating what AI is likely to achieve. Another concern is learned passivity: our tendency to assume that AI will solve problems and our failure, as a result, to cultivate human ingenuity."
-Wall Street Journal
"A convincing case that artificial general intelligence—machine-based intelligence that matches our own—is beyond the capacity of algorithmic machine learning because there is a mismatch between how humans and machines know what they know."
-Sue Halpern, New York Review of Books
"Exposes the vast gap between the actual science underlying AI and the dramatic claims being made for it."
-John Horgan
Ever since Alan Turing, AI enthusiasts have equated artificial intelligence with human intelligence. Erik Larson is convinced this is a profound mistake. A tech entrepreneur and research scientist working at the forefront of natural language processing, he takes us on a tour of the landscape of AI to show how far we are from superintelligence, and what it would take to get there.
AI works on inductive reasoning, crunching data sets to predict outcomes. But humans don't correlate data sets. We make conjectures, informed by context and experience. Human intelligence is a web of best guesses. And we haven't a clue how to program that kind of intuitive reasoning, which lies at the heart of common sense. Futurists insist AI will soon eclipse the capacities of the most gifted human mind, but Larson shows we aren't really on the path to developing superintelligent machines. In fact, we don't even know where that path might be.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Erik J. Larson's The Myth of Artificial Intelligence critically examines the exaggerated claims surrounding AI, arguing that we are far from achieving machine intelligence comparable to human cognition. The book delves into AI's history, distinguishing current technological capabilities from speculative forecasts of superintelligence, emphasising the limitations of machine learning in replicating human intuition and creativity. Overall, it serves as a timely critique against the overhyped expectations of AI, urging a focus on human ingenuity and realistic scientific principles.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674278660
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 11 October 2022
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 22.0mm
Width: 140.0mm
Height: 210.0mm
Weight: 386g
Pages: 320
About the Author
Erik J. Larson is a computer scientist and tech entrepreneur. The founder of two DARPA-funded AI startups, he is currently working on core issues in natural language processing and machine learning. He has written for The Atlantic and for professional journals and has tested the technical boundaries of artificial intelligence through his work with the IC2 tech incubator at the University of Texas at Austin.
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