There are only three things you need to know about artificial intelligence. First, it’s coming. Second, you can’t stop it. Third, it will be smarter than humans.
This is the central argument of ‘Scary Smart’ (Bluebird, £18.99, ISBN 9781529077186), an extended essay on AI’s ongoing journey to the ‘singularity’ that will take place in the middle of this century, when machines will be "a billion times more intelligent" than ourselves. If AI will become Einstein, we’ll be no more than flies. What, asks author Mo Gawdat, is going to stop 'Einstein' swatting the flies?
It’s a good question and one that Gawdat is well-positioned to address. As a former chief business officer at Google X, serial entrepreneur and start-up mentor, he’s native to a world that’s unafraid to take on big concept horizon scanning. The answer - and it’s hardly a plot spoiler because it’s printed on the cover as the book’s subtitle - is you. The reader can save the world...