Showing titles in History & Culture

Artificial intelligence may be the most transformative technology of our time. As AI’s power grows, so does the need to figure out what—and who—this technology is really for. AI Needs You argues that it is critical for society to take the lead in answering this urgent question and ensuring that AI fulfills its promise.

Eine revolutionäre Erfindung – und ihre Zukunft. Tim Berners-Lee ist der womöglich einflussreichste Erfinder der modernen Welt. Geboren im selben Jahr wie Bill Gates und Steve Jobs, teilte er seine Erfindung, das World Wide Web, ohne sie kommerziell zu verwerten. Auch deshalb konnte sich diese Technologie so schnell über den gesamten Globus verbreiten. Mit ihr wurde die Menschheit zur ersten digitalen Spezies: Hier, im Web, vernetzen wir uns, hier leben, arbeiten, streiten und träumen wir.

Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to science fiction—it’s part of our everyday lives. From smartphone assistants and Netflix recommendations to medical diagnostics and fraud detection, AI is already transforming how we live, work, and connect. But what exactly is AI? How does it work? Can it think like us, or even replace us? And what does it mean for our future?

Do you spend ages trying to find a computer file? Do you have a computer full of duplicate files? Or is your computer simply a mystery, a mess, a tangle that needs to be sorted out? This is the audiobook for you.

En Nexus, Harari contempla a la humanidad desde la amplia perspectiva de la historia para analizar cómo las redes de información han hecho y deshecho nuestro mundo. Durante los últimos 100.000 años, los sapiens hemos acumulado un enorme poder. Pero, a pesar de todos los descubrimientos, inventos y conquistas, ahora nos enfrentamos a una crisis existencial: el mundo está al borde del colapso ecológico, abunda la desinformación y nos precipitamos hacia la era de la I.A. Con todo el camino andando, ¿por qué somos una especie autodestructiva?

From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce white supremacy and deepen social inequity. Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to the racism of a previous era. 

*AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK* SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2024 LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2023 A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A parable for our times' FINANCIAL TIMES, Best Books of 2023 'Gripping' THE TIMES, Best...

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.

In August 1968 NASA made a bold decision: In just 16 weeks, the United States would launch humankind's first flight to the moon. Only the year before, three astronauts had burned to death in their spacecraft, and since then the Apollo program had suffered one setback after another. Meanwhile, the Russians were winning the space race, the Cold War was getting hotter by the month, and President Kennedy's promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade seemed sure to be broken.

Skip the iPhone, the iPod, and the Macintosh. If you want to understand how Apple Inc. became an industry behemoth, look no further than the 1977 Apple II. The Apple II was a versatile piece of hardware, but its most compelling story isn't found in the feat of its engineering, the personalities of Apple's founders, or the way it set the stage for the company's multibillion-dollar future. Instead, historian Laine Nooney shows, what made the Apple II iconic was its software.

The invention of the telephone changed the world. That’s no exaggeration. Phones are such ubiquitous features of our lives now that it can be difficult to imagine life without them, or to understand just how astonishing this invention truly was in the 19th century.

Sunday Times best-selling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson, teams up with The Science Museum to celebrate the ideas and inventions of the incurably curious.

Artificial intelligence powers Google's search engine, enables Facebook to target advertising, and allows Alexa and Siri to do their jobs. AI is also behind self-driving cars, predictive policing, and autonomous weapons that can kill without human intervention. These and other AI applications raise complex ethical issues that are the subject of ongoing debate. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible synthesis of these issues.

Do you feel like everyone got the artificial intelligence memo except you? Wanjiku Kamau did too. Six months before recording this audiobook, she was sitting in the Sacramento airport, frantically searching “What is ChatGPT?” while her dog Champ sighed beside her. After twenty years in tech at Siemens, Intel, and Google, she suddenly realized the world had changed around her. Everyone was speaking a new language. And she was still the woman who clung to her BlackBerry until 2013.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Bold futurist Ray Kurzweil, author of The Singularity Is Near, offers a framework for envisioning the future of machine intelligence—“a book for anyone who wonders where human technology is going next” (The New York Times Book Review). “Kurzweil offers a...

Five mysterious billionaires summoned Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The topic? How to survive The Event: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley-style certainty that they can break the laws of physics, economics, and morality to escape a disaster of their own making—as long as they have enough money and the right technology.

No longer an uncertain technology of the distant future, artificial intelligence is starting to shape every aspect of our daily lives, from how we think to who we love. In this urgent polemic, leading barrister Susie Alegre explores the ways in which artificial intelligence threatens our fundamental human rights—including the rights to life, liberty and fair trial; the right to private and family life; and the right to free expression—and how we protect those rights.

'As AI continues to evolve, one of the most talked-about and impactful advancements across industries is Agentic AI. But what exactly is Agentic AI, and why does it matter so much to businesses and individuals right now?' Agentic AI goes beyond simply automating tasks. It can plan, make decisions, take action, and adapt to new information. AI agents are capable of collaborating with other agents, systems, and people—reshaping how work gets done and how value is created. The rise of these digital workers will have a profound effect on industries, roles, and organizations of all sizes.

In The Next Renaissance, acclaimed AI advisor Zack Kass presents an optimistic and compelling vision of how artificial intelligence will shape our lives. Drawing on historical context, cutting-edge advancements, and firsthand experience, Kass lays out how AI will become a collaborative partner...

'You won't look at your screens in the same way after reading this book' Grace Blakeley, author of VULTURE CAPITALISM 'Logging Off is a life-saving book' Mikaela Loach, author of IT'S NOT THAT RADICAL 'A harrowing but important read' Carole Cadwalladr We live in a digital world. In the 30 years...