Genius Makers

Author Cade Metz
Narrator John Lee
Publisher Random House
Publish Date 18 March 2021
Run Time 10 hours
Format Audio
Genre Artificial intelligence, Biography and non-fiction prose, Biography: science, technology and medicine, Business and Management, Business innovation, Computing and Information Technology, Supercomputers.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

The Genius Makers tells the story of AI from pioneering days to current achievements to future potential. At the same time it takes the lid off what has effectively become an arms race between Google, Microsoft, Facebook and OpenAI, in which Google may be the clear frontrunner at present, but Facebook has shown itself to be both nimble and innovative, and OpenAI, the company recently founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, has made itself the confident upstart of the pack. Each of these companies represents something unique in the development of a technology that offers both extraordinary potential and extraordinary risks. Their personalities and business strategies are already changing the tech landscape in dramatic ways. And they will continue to do so.

As well as explaining and exploring artificial intelligence and showing how individuals and companies are reaching for it, The Genius Makers also poses serious ethical questions about the technology. Should we even be pursuing it? How will strong AI change humanity? Will it carve out a giant hole in our job market? Are these companies blinded by the riches this technology will bring? Are they forgetting the existential realities of creating machines that behave like humans?

Written by an expert who has exclusive access to each of these companies - and others who are working in this field - this is a rich, character-driven narrative that captures an extraordinary moment in the history of technology.

© Cade Metz 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

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

Many books proclaim that true artificial intelligence is on the horizon, and this expert overview makes a convincing case that genuine AI is . . . 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

The book is thorough and well researched. It provides a good grounding in the challenges and issues that AI has faced, and the big ethical issues that will need to be addressed going forwards too.It is also written in an accessible and non jargon heady manner, which ensures that it is a good read for the general reader . . . Overall it is a great read, thought provoking, readable and a really useful AI primer.

Irish Tech News

Colourful and readable . . . As computers steadily encroach into almost every corner of our lives, these AI researchers are emerging as the architects of our algorithmic age, shaping the information we absorb and the decisions we make. As you would expect from a New York Times technology reporter, Metz’s book draws on extensive access and meticulous research.

Financial Times

The book brings forth a compelling narrative that does not only put into perspective what AI means to us humans, but also tells a definitive story of how a project confined to the fringes of scientific community became a buzzword for humanity . . . it’s a story that shows both the inventive best of humankind and its darker side.

British Asia News

I hope that Cade Metz is already working on the sequel to this . . . an author with a firm grip on his field, he makes a knowledgeable guide to the intriguing corners of Silicon Valley and beyond.

Times Higher Education

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