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From a world-leading AI researcher, the history of artificial intelligence told through the six key ways it functions
Since Alan Turing first posed the question “Can machines think?” artificial intelligence has evolved from a speculative idea to a transformative force. The Shortest History of AI traces this evolution, from Ada Lovelace’s visionary work to IBM’s groundbreaking defeat of the chess world champion and the revolutionary emergence of ChatGPT.
Revealing how many “overnight” successes were decades in the making, this accessible and illuminating book tells AI’s history through the six main ways it functions:
- It uses symbols to represent common concepts and ideas.
- It chooses its best possible move based on the information it is given.
- It simulates human expertise by following simple rules.
- It learns based on its past experiences.
- It assesses its mistakes and learns to avoid making them again in the future.
- It computes probability based on the evidence it’s provided with.
Fast-paced and rich with facts, The Shortest History of AI explores how artificial intelligence is being created—and how it will continue to transform and affect our lives now and in the future.
The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.
“Recommended by the Next Big Book Club
"This enjoyable, wide-ranging, and compact survey explains where we began and where we now find ourselves. An entertaining and concise tour.”—Kirkus
“One of the world’s brightest minds takes on one of the world’s biggest topics. . . . Delicious!”—Adam Spencer, author of Book of Numbers
“This history of AI in six simple ideas is so informative and easy to digest. Essential reading!”—Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki
“Toby Walsh’s elegant six-idea history of AI reminds usthat the future was a long time coming—and that thehardest problem in intelligence may still be the humanone. . . . It satisfies both curiosity and conscience.”—Financial Express
“If your brain tends to seize up with fear or incomprehension at the mention of AI, this concise and entertaining history is for you.”—Sydney Morning Herald
“The Shortest History of AI gives a cogent and often comical account of AI’s evolution from a once specialized technology to a now ubiquitous feature of daily life”—The Saturday Paper (Australia)
