Booklist Reviews
NYU professor Webb (The Signals Are Talking, 2016) here explores the roles and directions of artificial intelligence by examining how the big nine harness the data that's now being constantly collected, organized, and analyzed by machines. Readers may already be familiar with the big nine companies: IBM, Alibaba, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Tencent, Apple, and Baidu. Using government reports, news-media publications, and scholarly articles, Webb traces the history and trajectory of artificial intelligence. She describes the implications of AI, from personal-data collection to technological advancements, by forecasting what may come from these experiences, particularly in the U.S. and China. Her writing is very clear and accessible, and the interesting analogies she uses to illustrate what may occur when algorithms make decisions for us make for compelling reading. This fascinating look at how AI will continue to revolutionize human experiences in unimaginable ways will appeal to anyone interested in AI, human-computer interactions, and machine learning in the private and public sectors. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.