The Big Nine, Amy Webb
The Big Nine, Amy Webb
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The Big Nine
How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity

Author: Amy Webb

Narrator: Amanda Dolan

Unabridged: 9 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 03/05/2019

Synopsis

A call-to-arms about the broken nature of artificial intelligence, and the powerful corporations that are turning the human-machine relationship on its head.

We like to think that we are in control of the future of "artificial" intelligence. The reality, though, is that we -- the everyday people whose data powers AI -- aren't actually in control of anything. When, for example, we speak with Alexa, we contribute that data to a system we can't see and have no input into -- one largely free from regulation or oversight. The big nine corporations -- Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM and Apple--are the new gods of AI and are short-changing our futures to reap immediate financial gain.

In this book, Amy Webb reveals the pervasive, invisible ways in which the foundations of AI -- the people working on the system, their motivations, the technology itself -- is broken. Within our lifetimes, AI will, by design, begin to behave unpredictably, thinking and acting in ways which defy human logic. The big nine corporations may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity.

Much more than a passionate, human-centered call-to-arms, this book delivers a strategy for changing course, and provides a path for liberating us from algorithmic decision-makers and powerful corporations.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mal

If you're looking for an expert to confirm your fears about killer robots, the grey goo problem, or robots taking all our jobs, you're in the wrong place. Amy Webb began her career as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She has become a widely respected futurist, author, and founder of the Futur......more

Goodreads review by Jacques

US-CENTERED AND US-BIASED The author has spent long periods of time in China and Japan. She thus knows what she is speaking about, and yet she is direct testimony of what they start considering in the USA in various fields, first police work, second the Silicon Valley, that is to say, unconscious bia......more

Goodreads review by Matt

The future is really scary. Or it's kind of awesome. Or it's somewhere in between. The fact is, even futurists as smart as Amy Webb don't know for sure. But what Amy Webb does here is lay out how we got here, where we are, and some options of where we might be headed. She does so with an incredible......more

Goodreads review by Yoly

The first part of the book feels very well researched and carefully written. Here the author gives us a somewhat brief history of AI and gives us some information about the Big Nine tech giants – Google, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. If I had to rate only this......more

Quotes

"Rather than questioning the character of thinking machines, futurist Amy Webb turns a critical eye on the humans behind the computers. With AI's development overwhelmingly driven by nine tech powerhouses, she asks: Is it possible for the technology to serve the best interests of everyone?"—Wired

"Webb's assessments are based on analyses of patent filings, policy briefings, interviews and other sources. She paints vivid pictures of how AI could benefit the average person, via precision medicine or smarter dating apps...Her forecasts are provocative and unsettlingly plausible."—Science News

"Instead of predicting the future, Webb lays out scenarios for optimistic, pragmatic, and catastrophic outcomes -- all extrapolated from current facts. However impractical you may find the idea of a common Apple-Amazon operating system named Applezon, considering potential scenarios is a fantastically healthy exercise, because anyone who tells you they know how AI is going to turn out is lying."—VentureBeat

"We need to get Amy Webb to campus. This is one of those cases where organizing discussions of the book would be great - but not enough. We would be wise to engage with Webb directly... We need more books like The Big Nine that are critical of higher education for reasons beyond politics (liberal bias) or costs... The Big Nine is an essential book for anyone interested in a global perspective around the role of companies and governmental policies in determining technological change."—InsideHigherEd

"Webb is a first-rate storyteller...she has poured a lifetime of researching, writing, and conversing--in a word, thinking--into her masterwork."—Law.com

"The Big Nine is provocative, readable, and relatable. Amy Webb demonstrates her extensive knowledge of the science driving AI and the geopolitical tensions that could result between the US and China in particular. She offers deep insights into how AI could reshape our economies and the current world order, and she details a plan to help humanity chart a better course."—AnjaManuel, Stanford University, cofounder and partner RiceHadleyGates

"The Big Nine is an important and intellectually crisp work that illuminates the promise and peril of AI. Will AI serve its three current American masters in Washington, Silicon Valley and Wall Street or will it serve the interests of the broader public? Will it concentrate or disperse economic and geopolitical power? We can thank Amy Webb for helping us understand the questions and how to arrive at answers that will better serve humanity than our current path. The Big Nine should be discussed in classrooms and boardrooms around the world."—Alec Ross, author of TheIndustries of the Future

"The Big Nine makes bold predictions regarding the future of AI. But unlike many other prognosticators, Webb sets sensationalism aside in favor of careful arguments, deep historical context, and a frightening degree of plausibility."—Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law and professorof Computer Science, Harvard University

"The Big Nine is thoughtful and provocative, taking the long view and most of all raising the right issues around AI and providing a road map for an optimistic future with AI."—Peter Schwartz, senior vice president, Salesforce.com, and author of The Art of the Long View

"Webb's potential scenarios for specific futures are superb, providing detailed visions for society to avoid as well as achieve."—JohnC. Havens, executive director, IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomousand Intelligent Systems

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