My rating: 4.5/5
Finally, finished reading this amazing book (~250 pages iBooks). Got de-tracked halfway through the book, read another book, picked this one again and finished it.
Who should read this book? I would specifically recommend this book to anybody who is interested in:
a) computer science (AI and Big Data in particular);
b) business studies (specially those interested in tech-businesses);
c) human development (poverty, unemployment, human-machine interaction etc.); or
d) sci-fi novels (there’s no harm in taking a look at the reality 🙂 )
The book isn’t written by some journalist who is merely interested in the topic, and takes a sloppy shot at it. Rather it’s written by a renowned and well-accomplished expert of the field. The author has not only the experience of working with top notch tech giants (Apple, Microsoft, Google), but was himself at the fore-front of developing many of these technologies.
The book is written on a comparison model between the Chinese and American tech giants. The book does a good job of clearing the misconception regarding backwardness of Chinese technologies and businesses. The way I get it, the book covers four themes:
1) Current use of AI tech: USA vs. China
2) Future of development of AI tech: USA vs China
3) Will advancement of AI lead to a dystopia? On what fronts?
4) (How) can we avoid that dystopia?
The book discusses the present and future impact of AI in the fields of banking, retail businesses, medicine, services sector etc.. Dr Kai-Fu Lee raises and tackles the questions such as, Will humans be entirely replaced by robots in all work places? What are the limits of AI? Are there any tasks which machines will never be able to perform? What are the economic and social repercussions of AI implementation; both for the countries and the businesses? Will pervasive application of AI result in more equality or inequality across the globe? What would be the fate of those who lag behind in implementation of AI? Can anything be done to mellow down the shock waves generated by AI? Is there anything being done currently?
There was just one topic, which I expected to have been covered in the book, but wasn’t; application of AI in “warfare and weapon technology” and USA vs China match on that front. The book covers “wars” in a different arena; that of trade and commerce. The book covers both, the overall AI business environment of the USA and China as well as abilities and ambitions of tech giants of both countries.
Overall, the book is very well-organized and well-written. To those already working in the field of AI, I would strongly recommend reading this book NOW. With the pace tech is being developed and commercialized, cutting-edge tech of 10 years ago is becoming redundant now.
In the long run, whether AI is going to be a force of evil or good? Dr Kai-Fu Lee summarises it:
“when it comes to shaping the future of artificial intelligence, the single most important factor will be the actions of human beings.
We are not passive spectators in the story of AI—we are the authors of it.”
Happy reading