A call-to-arms about the broken nature of artificial intelligence and the powerful
corporations that are turning the human-machine relationship on its head. We like to think that
we are in control of the future of artificial intelligence. The reality though is that we --
the everyday people whose data powers AI -- aren't actually in control of anything. When for
example we speak with Alexa we contribute that data to a system we can't see and have no
input into -- one largely free from regulation or oversight. The big nine corporations --
Amazon Google Facebook Tencent Baidu Alibaba Microsoft IBM and Apple--are the new gods
of AI and are short-changing our futures to reap immediate financial gain. In this book Amy
Webb reveals the pervasive invisible ways in which the foundations of AI -- the people working
on the system their motivations the technology itself -- is broken. Within our lifetimes AI
will by design begin to behave unpredictably thinking and acting in ways which defy human
logic. The big nine corporations may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of
intelligent systems that don't share our motivations desires or hopes for the future of
humanity. Much more than a passionate human-centered call-to-arms this book delivers a
strategy for changing course and provides a path for liberating us from algorithmic
decision-makers and powerful corporations.
