Five books that are shaping my thinking on AI

2024 has been an amazing if challenging year hasn't it? Generative AI around every corner. Elections playing out locally and [inter] Nationally. COVID and a Quademic. A new wave of optimism, scepticism and austerity.

I was thinking about what to write as 2025 approaches and I decided to share the five books on AI which are shaping my thinking as I enter 2025. These are each very different books but which when read as a whole paint a picture of an AI enabled future which I believe we need to engage in now. I'd also suggest you read them in the order I've listed them as this seems to make most sense to a narrative arc... Here goes...

1) AI 2041: Ten Visions for our Future. Chen Qiufan and Fai-Fu Lee. 2021.

This is a remarkable book, both for its content and its approach. It contains ten chapters which each deal with a separate feature of an AI-enabled society - from apps controlling our lives to autonomous weapon systems. It presents each chapter as a Science Fiction Story followed by an analysis from the co-author explaining the science about why this possible future is credible.

This is a recommendation because of its breadth, its accessibility and its inherent credibility. Easy to read but drives some reflection.

https://amzn.eu/d/ceZLY1M)

2) The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts. Danniel and Richard Susskind. 2016.

This book explores the role of professionals (Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, Architects etc...) and especially their governing bodies in a world increasingly transformed by AI and Technology. It teases out how the current AI powered industrial revolution will challenge these institutions to their core.

This book is less overtly about AI and more about the changes in societal structure and power bases. It lays down the basics for an upcoming power struggle over personalisation, quality, power-to-the-citizen and the layers of societal governance.

This is one to read and reflect on over months not days.

https://amzn.eu/d/h03nIyS

3) Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit. Eric Schmidt, Henry Kissinger. 2024.

This is another fairly accessible book but one which looks into the next 50 years and consider what we can expect from AI as it reshapes our lives. The book manages to present a decent exploration of the issues (whilst tackling some difficult topics) and manages to come out of it with a real sesnse of optimism.

The optimism though is balanced with a set of things which humans will need to do if this positive outcome is to be achieved. If you've read much history then such optimism might seem misplaced, but it points to actions we could and perhaps should be taking.

Worth reading if you want a feel for what our governments should be thinking about right now to protect future generations.

https://amzn.eu/d/ghXScwI

4) Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain. David Eagleman 2012.

A book about how our brains work and why and how they deceive us. A book full of unexpected things which we learn about our own brains. Split brain experiments. The working of the subconscious etc... More than once I found myself reflecting on my brain's lack of awareness about how it was working. This exercise in thinking being worderfully circular.

The book goes on to explore how AI might learn from the ways that our conscious and sub-conscious brains work, and the author proposes that the future of AI may well lie in multiple competitive AI algorithms working below the surface whose outputs are brought together beautifully by an executive function.

Fast Forward 12 years... Agentics is perhaps the future to generative AI with multiple specialised agents debating optimal answers with a final quality / executive agent taking overarching responsibility. Seems this book got it about right a decade ahead of time...

https://amzn.eu/d/gYhB6KC

5) Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Nick Bostrom. 2014.

OK this is the scary one. The one to read if you love a horror movie. This book changed my thinking fundamentally; and each time I'm amazed at the advances of AI, it is the lens through which I take the time to reflect on human agency and the future of our society.

This book may be old but in the field of thinking about generalised super-intelligent AI, this still stands out as a book worth reading. In it, the auther explores the different ways that an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) might be created and how we could seek to control it. I don't want to spoil the puch line, but if you're looking to be reassured then you may need to look elsewhere.

Whether you find this book terrifying or encouraging may well depend on whether you generally see good in governments and industry.

https://amzn.eu/d/1kUf0e4

PS If you've not got the stomach for this book, a gentler exploration is available by watching the move "I Robot" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_(film). VIKI is an AGI.

So, I said I had 5 books on AI to recommend. Well, as you got this far, here's a quirky bonus 6th book recommendation:

6) Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. David Epstein. 2019.

This one might be a tangiential link to AI for some, but with the rise of Generative AI the role of specialised experts is coming into question I think it speaks to the topic for me. Specifically, I wonder, when Co-Pilot can provide an outline for your next strategy, why do you employ consultants? (challenging thinking because I'm a consultant!)

In this book, Epstein explores how true mastery of a subject comes from being 'T' shaped. That is having access to a wide range of skills and experiences but also having one or more areas where you are a very deep specialist.

So this book will not teach you much about AI. It might be the one book that has the most effect on how you develop you personal AI skill set in 2025 though...

https://amzn.eu/d/ayKhklE

I'd love to hear how you get on with these recommendations.

Happy Reading!