Artificial Intelligence or AI is the most fascinating thing in the field of technology right now. Our life is now increasingly powered by or dictated by algorithms or automation. AI is also increasingly transforming our lives by changing our work as well as the way we work. There are many ways to understand AI, but the easiest is their impact in our everyday lives.
From the curated playlist on Spotify or intelligent recommendation on Netflix, AI is seemingly everywhere. With artificial intelligence, it is now possible to speak with someone even if we don’t speak their language. One of the ways to understand AI and the change it is bringing to our lives is to read books written on AI.
We have already covered 11 best books about AI in 2021, but these books will further alleviate your understanding of AI and its impact in different industries. Here is a look at the best books on AI right now.
Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence
by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb
In Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence, three economists look at how AI will transform businesses. We are already seeing AI transform healthcare, banking, finance, cybersecurity, and other industries. The book by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb looks at the economic impact of AI in different industries.
The book meticulously looks at how the rise of AI is also leading to a drop in the cost of prediction. The book also further provides CEOs, managers, and other decision makers with the gameplay necessary for them to not only adopt AI but also use them. Even though AI is projected to be like magic, its economic impact is rather simple.
Get the book here.
You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It’s Making the World a Weirder Place
by Janelle Shane
If you want to understand how AI understands our world, then author Janelle Shane’s book is the best bet. In the book, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You, Shane uses “hilarious experiments, real-world examples, and illuminating cartoons” to explain how AI understands our world.
The book not only shows what AI is capable of but also where AI can go wrong. While Shane may not have planned it as a comprehensive guide, the book acts like one. The book makes an important point about AI, that it is not going to take over the world. However, it does prepare its readers for a future transformed by AI.
Get the book here.
Deep Learning
by Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville
Deep learning is the most promising development in the field of artificial intelligence. It is essentially writing machine learning algorithms that are able to imitate the way humans gain certain knowledge. In Deep Learning, Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville explain the basics of the field.
This book is aimed at those with a technical background in computer science or data science. It helps readers understand how deep learning systems work, how to design them, and make them work. Just don’t forget that one of the authors of this book is often referred to as the “godfathers of AI” and you can’t get a better opportunity to learn from Yoshua Bengio.
Get the book here.
How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed
by Ray Kurzweil
One of the biggest challenges facing AI researchers is the inability of today’s AI programs to think and work like the human brain. However, Ray Kurzweil, one of the prominent inventors in the field of artificial intelligence, remains optimistic.
In his book How to Create a Mind, he explains how the brain works and also offers insights on how we can recreate it on a computer. The author of The Singularity also makes a bold prediction in this book. Kurzweil believes that a $1,000 computer will have the same processing power as the human brain by 2029.
Get the book here.
The Algorithmic Leader: How to Be Smart When Machines Are Smarter Than You
by Mike Walsh
It is a known fact that AI is transforming every facet of our daily life but the question that remains to be answered is whether we are prepared for the future of work, leadership, and creativity that is dominated by automation, smart robots, and machine intelligence.
The Algorithmic Leader by Mike Walsh tries to answer this uncomfortable question through years of research and interviews with some of the world’s top business leaders, AI pioneers, and data scientists. The book offers 10 principles necessary for business leaders to succeed in the age of algorithms.
Get the book here.
The AI Marketing Canvas: A Five Stage Roadmap to Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
by Raj Venkatesan and Jim Lecinski
In The AI Marketing Canvas, Raj Venkatesan and Jim Lecinski offer a direct, actionable plan that CMOs can use to map out their AI initiatives. The book poses two important questions to marketers:
- How should modern marketers be thinking about artificial intelligence and machine learning?
- How should marketers be developing a strategy and plan to implement AI into their marketing toolkit?
After offering an overview of AI in the opening chapters, the authors propose a best-practice, five-stage framework for implementing the AI Marketing Canvas. This approach based on research and interviews conducted with leading marketers offers guidance with examples of brands like Google, Lyft, Ancestry.com, and Coca-Cola.
Get the book here.
Applied Artificial Intelligence: A Handbook for Business Leaders
by Mariya Yao, Adelyn Zhou, and Marlene Jia
One of the problems faced by business leaders right now is not related to the implication or reach of AI but lack of understanding around implementation. Selected as CES 2018 Top Technology Book of the Year, Applied Artificial Intelligence offers practical advice on how AI can be adopted by business leaders.
The book makes it abundantly clear that business leaders need not be machine learning engineers to apply AI in their business. It helps business leaders understand how to prioritise AI projects at their company and also helps them understand the right framework needed to be successful.
Get the book here.
Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI
by Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson
In this book, authors Paul Daugherty and James Wilson show that the essence of AI is the paradigm shift causing transformation of business processes within an organisation. To illustrate this point, the authors worked with 1,500 companies and revealed the breakthrough in terms of “innovation, everyday customer service, or personal productivity habits.”
The authors also offer practical advice for professionals and firms on how to adapt to the transformation brought forth by AI. The book describes six entirely new types of hybrid human + machine roles that every company must develop and five principles that leaders must follow to become an AI-fuelled business.
Get the book here.
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig
With Artificial Intelligence by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig, we are returning to a classic. The book is widely acknowledged as a comprehensive look at AI from the perspective of it being a technology as well as a field in its own right.
Now in its fourth edition, the book covers machine learning, deep learning, and other types of AI. The book also addresses some of the concerns associated with AI safety and privacy. In this book, the authors argue the need for us to approach AI with right considerations and concerns in mind.
Get the book here.
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
This is a must read for anyone interested in the field of artificial intelligence. Professors at MIT, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, have been among the earliest advocates of the notion that AI will radically transform business.
In The Second Machine Age, they are making the case that we are entering a new era of technological progress. They use the industrial revolution as a case to point out how the technology has been improving exponentially. The book also offers insights on how AI will change business in the future.
Get the book here.
Voice Strategy: Creating Useful & Usable Voice Experiences
by Susan and Scot Westwater
Voice is being seen as the next major input in terms of consumer behaviour. The likes of Google, Amazon, and Apple are in a race to turn voice into a natural input mechanism for their products and services. Are marketers and business leaders prepared for this change?
In Voice Strategy, Susan and Scot Westwater, two of the most knowledgeable voice experts in the world, explain how business leaders can no longer voice. They also help devise a strategy to identify voice needs and a methodology to identify use cases for voice in business.
Get the book here.