An expert offers a guide to where we should use artificial intelligence-and where we should
not. Before we know it artificial intelligence (AI) will work its way into every corner of our
lives making decisions about with and for us. Is this a good thing? There's a tendency to
think that machines can be more objective than humans-can make better decisions about job
applicants for example or risk assessments. In Awkward Intelligence AI expert Katharina
Zweig offers readers the inside story explaining how many levers computer and data scientists
must pull for AI's supposedly objective decision making. She presents the good and the bad: AI
is good at processing vast quantities of data that humans cannot-but it's bad at making
judgments about people. AI is accurate at sifting through billions of websites to offer up the
best results for our search queries and it has beaten reigning champions in games of chess and
Go. But drawing on her own research Zweig shows how inaccurate AI is for example at
predicting whether someone with a previous conviction will become a repeat offender. It's no
better than simple guesswork and yet it's used to determine people's futures. Zweig introduces
readers to the basics of AI and presents a toolkit for designing AI systems. She explains
algorithms big data and computer intelligence and how they relate to one another. Finally
she explores the ethics of AI and how we can shape the process. With Awkward Intelligence.
Zweig equips us to confront the biggest question concerning AI: where we should use it-and
where we should not.
