Our Final Invention cover art

Our Final Invention

Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era

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Our Final Invention

By: James Barrat
Narrated by: Gary Dana
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About this listen

A Huffington Post Definitive Tech Book of 2013

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. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful, and more alien than we can imagine.

Through profiles of tech visionaries, industry watchdogs, and groundbreaking AI systems, Our Final Invention explores the perils of the heedless pursuit of advanced AI. Until now, human intelligence has had no rival. Can we coexist with beings whose intelligence dwarfs our own? And will they allow us to?

©2013 James Barrat (P)2014 Audible Inc. Computer Science History & Culture Machine Theory & Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence Transportation Data Science Machine Learning Robotics AI and Humanity

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All stars
Most relevant  
Struggling to know if the narrator is human, or AI. Authors discusses this very concept in first few chapters. Listen for ‘The Turing Test’.

Great choice of narrator

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Many pessimistic assumptions about technology without almost any proof or anything to back it up except quotes from "famous people in the field".

Raises some good concerns but provides no tangeable solutions.

Many pessimistic assumptions

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Love the book and the approach taken by the Author to explain the issues and challenges we are likely to face. Some of the content is a little dated but that's to be expected of a book like this.

Very insightful and thought provoking

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Ironically this interesting book on the dangers of AI is read by a voice actor with an oddly robotic delivery - hard to listen to as a result.

Interesting content - robotic delivery

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This book highlights why the field of A.I. has still plenty of unchartered territory across ethics, politics and technology. Great collection of thoughts and insight from industry practitioners and theorists. Thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking.

A compelling piece, well researched and balanced

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Made a technical subject easy to follow and very interesting to listen too. Covered the history well and is balanced by making the reader aware of opinions that go against his opinion.

Brilliant

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great book really opens your eyes to the future, while some bits are a little dated the principle is spot on

makes you think

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I would agree with some of the facts, but would disagree with his interpretation with some of the facts. Also he always refers to Iran and China...
Otherwise i think its interesting.

interesting subject

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This one is like an astrophysicist appearing at the time the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K-T) boundary was being laid down... and explaining the possible consequences of an asteroid hitting the earth, to a dinosaur.

Something tells me for the vast majority of the people on the planet ditto...applies.

Now for people that are interested in the topic covered.... definitely an intro to the dark side of the ‘force’

Why “Genesis 2.0” may not be that bad of an alternative title...

“ A nod is as good as a wink to a blind man?”

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Needs a new edition. Three or four years is a long time in artificial intelligence.

Great book in a fast moving landscape.

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