{"id":10890,"date":"2025-03-31T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/uncategorized\/ai-books-review-4\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T15:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T13:37:16","slug":"ai-books-review-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/hai-magazine-4\/ai-books-review-4\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udd12 AI books review (4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opportunities and threats<\/strong><\/h4>

On February 22, 1946, George Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, sent a 5,000-word telegram to Washington. Kennan warned in it that the Soviet Union, due to the very premises of communism, is expansionist, and he urged the US government to resist any attempts by the Soviets to increase their influence. This strategy quickly became known as the “policy of containment” or “Truman Doctrine” \u2013 and it defined American foreign policy for the subsequent 40 years. <\/p>

This doctrine doesn’t apply only to politics. Mustafa Suleyman, author of The Coming Wave and one of the most experienced and distinguished practitioners of artificial intelligence (currently the head of AI at Microsoft, formerly co-founder of DeepMind, a company acquired by Google), and Michael Bhaskar, writer and publisher, suggest that it also be applied to AI. <\/p>

The authors indicate that humanity has faced inventions multiple times that could have obliterated its entire future: fire, the wheel, languages, writing, electricity \u2013 these solutions changed the fate of our species. Now, according to researchers, we stand on the threshold of another breakthrough, this time related to artificial intelligence and biotechnology. Suleyman and Bhaskar both emphasize that this could change the world more significantly than all previous breakthroughs \u2013 both negatively and positively. <\/p>

The authors compare the AI revolution to stories of great floods found in different mythologies, which destroyed entire civilizations and gave rise to new ones. On one hand, they certainly recognize the appeal of technological changes, while on the other, they directly state that these will bring humanity a “new beginning”. They assert that “Over time, the implications of these technologies will push humanity to navigate a path between the poles of catastrophe and dystopia.” <\/p>

That’s why The Coming Wave is one of the books that comprehensively explain how AI can change our world \u2013 for better or worse. Suleyman and Bhaskar predict that artificial intelligence will soon be able to discover miraculous drugs, diagnose rare diseases, manage warehouses, optimize traffic and design sustainable cities. But at the same time, it can be used to induce new, powerful diseases. The authors note that the cost of genetic sequencing has drastically dropped, while the capabilities of DNA editing with technologies such as CRISPR have significantly improved. Soon, everyone will be able to set up a genetic lab in their garage and produce either a new cancer drug, or pathogens. <\/p>

Despite these threats, Suleyman and Bhaskar doubt that any country will make an effort to stop the development of this technology. Countries care too much about economic benefits. This is the fundamental paradox: we can’t afford not to use technology, yet it might lead to our extinction. As theauthors write: \u201cModern civilization writes checks only continual technological development can cash.\u201d <\/p>

The coming wave not only describes the state of AI research, but also its nearest possible applications.It also points out what measures can (and should!) be taken to ensure that the development of this technology doesn’t get out of control. Suleyman and Bhaskar clearly advocate for strong AI regulation and international cooperation, although they fear that the shortsighted nature of contemporary governments, driven by the short electoral cycle, might delay such regulations. <\/p>

The authors outline specific steps that countries, business entities and AI development companies should take to ensure that emerging products are safe for us and future generations.<\/p>

The book is a must-read for those who want to better understand how artificial intelligence can change our lives (work, health, transportation), but also precious social values like human relationships and democracy itself.<\/p>

Nothing to be afraid of?<\/strong><\/h4>

In media discourse, AI resembles genetics: the progress in recent years is so immense that it’s frightening. Fear, even the irrational kind, always has some basis, often fueled by pop culture. In genetics, it’s the fear of an army of clones or doppelg\u00e4ngers ready to replace us. In the case of AI \u2013 the fear of monstrous machines straight out of Blade Runner<\/em> (1982). <\/p>

According to a CBOS study from September 2024, 38% of respondents saw more threats than benefits in AI development, while 29% had an ambivalent attitude towards it. Similar concerns are also visible in business \u2013 according to an international survey by Arize AI, more than half of the companies on the prestigious Fortune 500 list identified artificial intelligence as a risk factor.<\/p>

The book Moral AI: And How We Get There <\/em>, authored by three professors from Duke University, combines three different perspectives: psychological, ethical, and computational. This is an accessible lecture on what AI actually is and how we should understand it. What’s important, it’s not just a collection of trivia, but a structured introduction to the world of AI. A manual, but written in a way that makes you want to read it. Like any reasonable textbook, it focuses primarily on practice. The authors divided it into chapters that address the most troubling aspects of AI development: <\/p>

  • safety,<\/li>\n\n
  • privacy,<\/li>\n\n
  • justice,<\/li>\n\n
  • responsibilities,<\/li>\n\n
  • ethical issues.<\/li><\/ul>

    In each of these different fields, they also point out possible solutions \u2013 because according to them, there’s nothing to fear, as long as we approach the subject consciously and responsibly.<\/p>

    Let’s consider the field of law and regulations, for example. One of the most frequently raised issues, both in academic discussions and in the media, is the discrimination that AI may engage in. The authors point out specific examples of “explicit bias” in algorithms, but they remind us that judges \u2013 who are human, after all \u2013 are not free from biases either. As they indicate: “The possibility to use AI to reduce biases in human decision-making suggests that properly implemented systems can bring significant benefits to society, despite the fact that their use involves a considerable, yet luckily manageable, risk of increasing injustice.” In short, AI isn’t perfect, but if it’s programmed well, it might turn out to be more fair than a human. <\/p>

    Apparently, the King of Prussia, Frederick William, turned to his philosophers with a question on how to govern the people. While other philosophers were busy writing lengthy treatises, Hegel reportedly said that the masses could be misled on trivial matters \u2013 even if they realize it, it would not have significant consequences. But in important matters, you must not deceive them, because once they realize, they will start to hate their ruler. The authors of the book are aware of this, and on such important issues as the ethical aspects of AI, they prefer not to overstate anything. <\/p>

    Moral AI <\/em>is an important starting point for reflecting on artificial intelligence, as well as an attempt to answer to what extent it can be “fair”. It’s still a story about improving what we already have. The question remains how effective this strategy is at all. To what extent can AI just be an “enhancement”, and to what extent it forces a complete shift in our perspective? <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Opportunities and threats On February 22, 1946, George Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, sent a 5,000-word telegram to Washington. Kennan warned in it that the Soviet Union, due to the very premises of communism, is expansionist, and he urged the US government to resist any attempts by the Soviets to increase their influence. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":9937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[792,673,781,674],"tags":[],"popular":[],"difficulty-level":[36],"ppma_author":[633,634],"class_list":["post-10890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-lifestyle","category-hai-magazine-4","category-hai-premium","category-issue-4","difficulty-level-easy"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":633,"user_id":253,"is_guest":0,"slug":"joanna-sosnowska","display_name":"Joanna Sosnowska","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Asia-portret.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Asia-portret.jpg"},"first_name":"Joanna","last_name":"Sosnowska","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":"Dziennikarka i redaktorka zwi\u0105zana z \u201eGazet\u0105 Wyborcz\u0105\u201d i Wyborcza.pl. Wsp\u00f3\u0142prowadz\u0105ca podcast Techstorie w Radiu Tok FM. By\u0142a redaktor naczeln\u0105 serwis\u00f3w technologicznych i gamingowych Wirtualnej Polski, pracowa\u0142a te\u017c w start-upie, kt\u00f3ry chcia\u0142 rozwi\u0105za\u0107 problem bezsenno\u015bci i koszmar\u00f3w."},{"term_id":634,"user_id":254,"is_guest":0,"slug":"krzysztof-katkowski","display_name":"Krzysztof Katkowski","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/URS2300.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/URS2300.jpg"},"first_name":"Krzysztof","last_name":"Katkowski","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":"Socjolog, t\u0142umacz, dziennikarz, poeta. Absolwent Universitat Pompeu Fabra w Barcelonie i UW. Wsp\u00f3\u0142pracownik medi\u00f3w katalo\u0144sko- i hiszpa\u0144skoj\u0119zycznych, OKO.press i \u201eDziennika Gazety Prawnej\u201d."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10891,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890\/revisions\/10891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10890"},{"taxonomy":"popular","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/popular?post=10890"},{"taxonomy":"difficulty-level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/difficulty-level?post=10890"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=10890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}