The Sentient Machine

The coming of artificial intelligence, argues technologist, inventor and computer scientist Amir Husain, is humanity's chance to write its next and greatest creation myth. He sets that view against a debate split between hope that machines will solve every problem and fear that they will make people irrelevant. Machine intelligence already shapes daily life, from cruise control to automatic checkout. Husain treats AI as a new form of intellectual diversity worth embracing to advance fields such as security, resource management, finance and energy. He also takes up questions about human value, the nature of intelligence and what counts as progress, explaining complex AI ideas in plain language with cultural and historical references.

Cisco chief executive John Chambers endorsed it, saying business leaders, policy makers and entrepreneurs need to understand AI and that Husain helps them do so.