Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought A.I. to Google, Facebook, and the World

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A ground-breaking account of the race to create Artificial Intelligence 'This colourful page-turner puts artificial intelligence into a human perspective . . . Metz explains this transformative technology and makes the quest thrilling.' Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs ____________________________________________________ Long dismissed as a technology of the distant future, artificial intelligence was a project consigned to the fringes of the scientific community. Then two researchers changed everything. One was a 64-year old computer science professor and the other was a 36-year-old neuroscientist and chess prodigy. Though they took very different paths, together they helped catapult AI to the forefront of our daily lives and created a business worth billions. This is the story of a technological revolution and the arms race it has sparked among companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Elon Musk's OpenAI. It is also the story of the struggle between international powers, shareholder value, the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and the very human concerns about privacy, security, bias and prejudice that AI raises. New York Times Silicon Valley journalist Cade Metz draws on unparalleled access to create an extraordinarily vivid account of an ongoing technological revolution. And he poses the question that will dominate the next half-century- where will AI take us next? ________________________________________________ 'Metz tells his engrossing story through the lives of a dozen geniuses, scores of brilliant men (mostly), and an ongoing, cutthroat industrial and academic arms race . . . A must-read, fully-up-to-date report on the holy grail of computing.' Kirkus Reviews

Cade Metz is a technology correspondent with The New York Times, covering artificial intelligence, driverless cars, robotics, virtual reality, and other emerging areas. Previously, he was a senior staff writer with Wired magazine. He works in The New York Times' San Francisco bureau and lives across the bay with his wife Taylor and two daughters.

In Genius Makers, Cade Metz delivers the definitive take on how AI technology came to be and what its arrival will mean for us humans. The book relies on tireless reporting and delightful writing to bring to life one of the most surprising and important stories of our time. If you want to read one book to understand AI, this is the one. -- Ashlee Vance, New York Times bestselling author of ELON MUSK This colourful page-turner puts artificial intelligence into a human perspective. Through the lives of Geoff Hinton and other major players, Metz explains this transformative technology and makes the quest thrilling. -- Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of LEONARDO DA VINCI, STEVE JOBS and THE INNOVATORS Cade Metz has produced an enthralling narrative of the advance of artificial intelligence. He describes the key personalities, the seminal meetings and the crucial breakthroughs with his customary eye for detail, building them into a dramatic history of this era-defining technology. -- Kai-Fu Lee, author of AI SUPERPOWERS This is the inside story of how AI entered Google, Facebook, and the rest of high tech. It is also the story of how Silicon Valley and its mega-bucks infiltrated AI and changed its course. Chock full of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and wry humour - we learn the true tale of the technology that is transforming humanity. -- Oren Etzioni, chief executive, Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence One day soon, when computers are safely driving our roads and speaking to us in complete sentences, we'll look back at Cade Metz's elegant, sweeping Genius Makers as their birth story - the Genesis for an age of sentient machines. -- Brad Stone, author of THE EVERYTHING STORE and THE UPSTARTS