Rule of the Robots, Martin Ford
Rule of the Robots, Martin Ford
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Rule of the Robots
How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything

Author: Martin Ford

Narrator: Ian Carlsen

Unabridged: 8 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 09/14/2021

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

The New York Times–bestselling author of Rise of the Robots shows what happens as AI takes over our lives 

If you have a smartphone, you have AI in your pocket. AI is impossible to avoid online. And it has already changed everything from how doctors diagnose disease to how you interact with friends or read the news. But in Rule of the Robots, Martin Ford argues that the true revolution is yet to come. 

In this sequel to his prescient New York Times bestseller Rise of the Robots, Ford presents us with a striking vision of the very near future. He argues that AI is a uniquely powerful technology that is altering every dimension of human life, often for the better. For example, advanced science is being done by machines, solving devilish problems in molecular biology that humans could not, and AI can help us fight climate change or the next pandemic. It also has a capacity for profound harm. Deep fakes—AI-generated audio or video of events that never happened—are poised to cause havoc throughout society. AI empowers authoritarian regimes like China with unprecedented mechanisms for social control. And AI can be deeply biased, learning bigoted attitudes from us and perpetuating them. 

In short, this is not a technology to simply embrace, or let others worry about. The machines are coming, and they won’t stop, and each of us needs to know what that means if we are to thrive in the twenty-first century. And Rule of the Robots is the essential guide to all of it: both AI and the future of our economy, our politics, our lives. 
 

About Martin Ford

Martin Ford, the founder of a Silicon Valley–based software development fi rm, has over twenty-fi ve years of experience in computer design and software development. The author of The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology, and the Economy of the Future, and he lives in Sunnyvale, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian on October 04, 2021

Douglas Adams described how the (fictional) Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy started off in an overexcited manner, telling the reader how mindbogglingly big space is - but after a while it settled down a bit and started telling you things you actually needed to know. Rule of the Robots is a bit like......more

Goodreads review by Venky on July 13, 2021

Reading more like a hyper extension of Aldous-Huxley’s “Brave New World” than an introduction to an explosion of technology, James Barrat’s  thought provoking book, “Our Final Invention”, brings us face to face with the alarmingly potential consequences of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) gone uncontr......more

Goodreads review by Philemon on February 12, 2025

The title claims AI will change everything. The question is, when? The day Turing testing confirms that AI possesses AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), humanity will face critical decisions on how much faith to have in the technology and how much power to confer it. AGI is difficult to achieve be......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on October 12, 2021

Artificial intelligence is already affecting all our lives in one way or another. Soon it could be dominating it. In this book Martin Ford which has only just been published so it is up to date sketches out both where we are & examines the road ahead. Ford is not a technological booster even though......more

Goodreads review by Maureen on October 08, 2024

The newest technological trends will no doubt impact what we see, hear, how we work, telecommute etc and will these changes be positive or negative; many new skills will have to be learned, developed but then there will also be risks from deepfake activities, from a libertarian orientation. There wi......more


Quotes

“Probably the most compelling single-volume book so far on AI’s advance and the opportunities and challenges associated with its multi-faceted impact on the world. Those in AI and those outside it will get a lot out of his clear-eyed and critical perspective. I highly recommend it.” —James Manyika, Chairman and Director of the McKinsey Global Institute

“There is no technology more important today than AI. Martin Ford continues his tradition of clear insights and observations about this important topic in a well-researched page-turner.  A delightful book!” —Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and co-author of The Second Machine Age

“The best up-to-date, go-to book on the social and economic implications of artificial intelligence.” —Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics at George Mason University

“An incisive, balanced, and well-informed discussion of where AI stands today, how it may evolve, and the risks it poses to human society.”—Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

“Writing about the future of robotics is a dangerous endeavor, since it illuminates every aspect of our lives with a startling, unchartered perspective. Ford navigates this challenge admirably, with an exceptional blend of depth, rigor and clarity.” —Judea Pearl, winner of the A.M. Turing Award and co-author of The Book of Why