What Is The Best Book On Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Posted on : Mar 04 - 2019

AI is rapidly changing the way we live and do business, which leaves many business leaders feeling like they’re struggling to keep pace with developments. As such, business leaders often ask me for tips on recommend reading – they want to know which books will help them understand the AI revolution, grasp its impact on our world and plan for an AI-driven future.

I read a lot about AI, for my consulting work, and more recently as research for my latest book ‘Artificial Intelligence in Practice’ and, of course, because I find the subject absolutely fascinating. In fact, I’d say I’ve devoured pretty much every key AI book that’s been published in the last decade.

My plan for this article was to nominate the single best book on AI – as in, if you could only read one, which book should it be? But, honestly, it was just too difficult to narrow down my favorites to one book!

Instead, I offer you my top five. In my view, these are the very best AI books that are available right now. All focus on the implications of AI for business and society (as opposed to the nitty-gritty tech side of AI). So if you're interested in the potential impact of AI, or how AI is going to transform every aspect of our world, I highly recommend these five books.

The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity

By Byron Reese, published May 2018

This fascinating book argues that AI will have enormous implications for the human race, to the extent that it will redefine what it means to be human. As background, Reese sets out the previous three ages where technology has reshaped humanity and sets up AI and robotics as the fourth age of transformation. In other words, it’s a gripping (and surprisingly optimistic) account of how we got where we are today, and how we should approach the new age that’s upon us.

Best for: Understanding what AI will mean for us as a species, without getting sucked into a doom-and-gloom dystopian fantasy.

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

By Max Tegmark, published July 2018

One of Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 and named Book of the Year by both The Times and The Daily Telegraph, this highly praised book more than lives up to the hype.

In it, Tegmark, who is a physicist and cosmologist, sets out to separate AI myths from reality in an approachable and lively way. Impressively, he manages to cover some quite challenging topics and questions (How can we create a more prosperous world through automation? How can we protect AI systems from hacking and nefarious use?) without being too high-brow or dumbing down – and without telling the reader what to think.

Best for: Facilitating challenging, thought-provoking conversations about AI, whether you want to impress folks around the water cooler or instigate serious AI strategy discussions. View More