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Our Final Invention

Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era

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Our Final Invention

By: James Barrat
Narrated by: Gary Dana
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About this listen

A Huffington Post Definitive Tech Book of 2013

Artificial Intelligence helps choose what books you buy, what movies you see, and even who you date. It puts the "smart" in your smartphone and soon it will drive your car. It makes most of the trades on Wall Street, and controls vital energy, water, and transportation infrastructure. But Artificial Intelligence can also threaten our existence.

In as little as a decade, AI could match and then surpass human intelligence. Corporations and government agencies are pouring billions into achieving AI’s Holy Grail - human-level intelligence. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful, and more alien than we can imagine.

Through profiles of tech visionaries, industry watchdogs, and groundbreaking AI systems, Our Final Invention explores the perils of the heedless pursuit of advanced AI. Until now, human intelligence has had no rival. Can we coexist with beings whose intelligence dwarfs our own? And will they allow us to?

©2013 James Barrat (P)2014 Audible Inc. Computer Science History & Culture Machine Theory & Artificial Intelligence Technology Artificial Intelligence Data Science Machine Learning Robotics AI and Humanity
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Very interesting topic but the narration was rather dull and I think a better narrator would have helped a lot

Great read - poor narration

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Well researched, but authors opinion is very bias, I am curious if barrat (the author) has sold all his worldly possessions and lives one day to the next as he paints a grim picture of our future. Interesting read though and as someone who build narrow AI I still learned a lot.

The end is nigh

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The book covers lots of interesting parts of AI though can be a bit repetitive at times. The self referential elements of the writing are useful to gaining a bigger picture of how previously mentioned information builds to later sections.

Very well narrated which makes a huge difference for me in an audiobook.

Worth a go if you’re interested in the topic.

Good points made

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Very useful and detailed history of the issues and some of the major players in the AGI/ASI world. A little laboured towards the end, the mains are really made in the first half. I agree with other reviewers that the author has a significant bias toward the potential negatives. However all books of this nature should be read with an open mind, and if nothing else, this book gives you a thirst to dig deeper.

Narration came across as a little robotic initially, but grew on me by the end.

A good summary of the issue

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Does a good job at re-hashing some common concepts for the laymen in understandable language. Content is still, if not, more relevant in 2023 than ever.

10 years old - still relevant.

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