Artificial Intelligence
925416
Interesting plot, futuristic (AI),, some nudity
922701
Vapnik and collaborators have developed the field of statistical learning theory underlying recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence (e.g. support vector machines). This book almost accomplishes  the formidable task of comprehensibly describing the essential ideas of  learning theory to non-statisticians. It contains ample theorems but almost  no proofs.
1348373
I liked Hartling's style of writing and keen imagination.  I began the book thinking it was all pure fantasy but quickly learned that Artificial Intelligence, and the dilemmas it will cause, are, in fact, being studied in depth by scientists all over the world.  I'm now searching the internet for more information about AI, robotics, and other scientific advance that are just within our reach.  Thank you William Hertling.
957680
At some point we have all asked ourselves the question, could artificial intelligence cause the end of the world?  Could a computer evolve beyond mans understanding?  Might we be marching ourselves towards the end of the world by advancing AI?  We see such concepts in movies like the Terminator, I-robot, and other places.  In "The End of the Computer" we see yet another side to the possibilities of our dreams as it pertains to AI.  Except that it goes beyond AI, into super or hyper intelligence.  Can something have the best of a computer or AI and the best of humanity?

The story is focused on a group of highly intelligent individuals who have found a way to combine computer chips to create a super intelligence that would be the most powerful ever.  More powerful than they can even comprehend.  And once created, there is no going back or trying again.  They struggle against themselves, their financial backers, and the idea itself.  What comes from this journey ends up being beyond their wildest dreams, or perhaps nightmares.

This book is at times a bit slow, and those without a certain grasp of language may have trouble with it.  However it's well worth the read, to anyone who likes the Sci-Fi genre or enjoys stories about AI and whether or not humanity is slowly destroying itself.  You do have to let your mind open up, and accept the occasional situation that may strike you as beyond belief as with any story along these lines.  It is a very intellectual novel, and at times draws you deep within the story, filling your mind with possibilities, both good and bad.  The author does a great job describing the areas the novel takes place in, and exploring them, at times to a fault.  But he still creates a great background that helps to lay the foundation for what the characters are experiencing.

Well worth a read at least once!
2656452
A fantastic book analysing the features of quality human learning. Not supposed to be a book about artificial intelligence, as per the misconception in other reviews.
4565256
A good sci fi film on advanced AI human like robots. Good storyline. Kept my interest.
1646540
A fun romp thru the possibilities of AI,  with some good adventure and character dynamics for good measure. A solid read!!
3329026
From business leaders learning about AI and its impact, to AI experts already using AI in innovative ways in their business processes, this book provides an easy to follow playbook on how to gain a competitive business advantage through AI. The true business value lies in the ability to look way beyond using machines to replace humans, and instead think of innovative ways for machines to help humans do their jobs better and re-imagine business processes.
2692362
The 4th edition has remarkable changes compared to the 3rd edition, which was written in 1990. Almost all the references are highly up-to-date, new trends in the AI field and new applications leveraging expert systems are introduced all through this book. The content ranges from an overview to the technology of Expert Systems, the basic scientific foundation of Expert Systems and the CLIPS tool for implementing expert systems. There are two chapters about reasoning under uncertainty and inexact reasoning, which are the  ways the AI systems are heading. Things like semantic web, its advantage and problems are very well sorted out in the first chapter. The authors put a good deal of humour into the text all through this book, the formal logic stuff is not that boring as it usually appears in other book. I wish I had had this book as my first book for formal logic/deduction systems. The mathematical mechanisms for things like resolution/deduction are explained with plenty of well-arranged diagrams and tables to help readers understand better. Every chapter comes with well-designed assignments. An excellent text book for introductory AI courses (I believe a motivated high-school kid will have no problem to understand the book since it is so well written). And also a good reference for those who need to look up basic concepts while engineering expert systems. I'm constructing an expert system at the moment, got this book 2 weeks ago and it's already dog-eared on my desk. For its targeted audience, this book is truly the best-of-breed. Highly recommended.
4497979
Very insightful and hard to believe this book was published more than 10 years ago in 2004. It brings a fresh perspective on the current debate about the dangers of AI and how likely we are to make machines that are super-intelligent. It does a great job of demystifying human intelligence and explaining why it has been so hard to replicate in computers. I suspect it will turn out to be quite prescient and one of the more important books on the subject. I was particularly impressed with the author's personal journey vis-a-vis his interest in brains and how he was willing to challenge conventional wisdom and the way the AI industry approached the problem. My only gripe is that after introducing the reader to the problem of invariant representation as one of the greatest scientific mysteries of our time, the author didn't dwell much on the nature of the problem, why it is so difficult and how over the coming years or decades it may be solved.
506166
James Barrat takes a deep dive into the potential dangers of AI while most books on the subject focus on the obvious positives it will bring to society. He introduces the reader to notable authorities on the topic as well as the many institutions and universities involved in AI research.
77269
The book does a good job explaining how brain works and the future of AI. Recommended to everyone interested on science
3195353
Ray Kurzweil writes as an authority on AI (artificial intelligence).  As a practitioner in that field myself, I am not impressed by his expertise.  He knows one or two subfields of AI well and is a talented inventor, but his vision of the future of AI simply doesn't hold water.

An informed layman who has never read an AI textbook (or history, such as Nils Nilsson's or Pamela McCorduck's) and knows nothing about cognitive neuroscience (see recent books by Michael Gazzaniga and V. S. Ramachandran) may find this book impressive.  It is a place where a great deal of mediocre information is contained between two covers.  However, I don't think Kurzweil knows enough about human learning (a large and complex field) and human intelligence (ditto) to get a solid handle on what tasks machine learning and machine intelligence must be able to perform and in what order their respective subtasks will probably be mastered.

There are gifted multidisciplinary thinkers in AI and cognitive science who have proved their ability to run rings around Kurzweil, and none of them purports to be a "futurist."  Ever since Herbert A. Simon predicted (in 1957) that in a decade the strongest chess player in the world would be a machine (it was four decades before IBM's DEEP BLUE beat World Chess Champion Gary Kasparov in tournament play in May, 1997), serious AI researchers have been very cautious in making predictions about the not-so-near future.

There is an established literature on mind design and Kurzweil has contributed very little to it.  This book does not summarize that literature or move it forward.  I sincerely doubt it will be remembered five years from now.  There are too many good people, from Steven Pinker (who explains the mind for those who aren't experts in it) and John Robert Anderson (one of the experts) to Daniel Dennett and Patricia Churchland (the latter two being examples of a brave new philosophy of mind), who have made contributions to how minds can realistically be designed for us to waste our time with the mediocre thoughts of "futurists" and others who aren't telling us a believable story about how they will be built.

We already know a great deal more about mind design and implementation than Ray Kurzweil does, a field I was working in more than 30 years ago.  To be blunt, Kurzweil isn't plugged into enough of the right sources of information.
4451054
Mindblowing book that synthesizes many topics.  Is really an exploration of sentience and self-awareness, and how a consciousness and a "self" can arise out of ignoble matter.  The key insight is that recursive algorithms that are self-referential develop new statements and patterns in a form of emergent behavior.  The book shows that such algorithms are found everywhere: in mathematics, music, language, art, etc.  Some consider this one of the essential reads for folks interested in artificial intelligence
4773432
We would like to know the AI so that we could formulate it ourselves, we work for a University. Overall a very good product.
96193
Mr Harris has done it again. A great thought provoking story that in this age of computer technology, artificial intelligence on this level is a real future possibility, Once you start reading this book it is hard to put down.
1403656
AI&U is the definitive guide for business on Artificial Intelligence. In one weekend with the book, business leaders will gain critical insight and tools to start using AI to generate value for customers and enhance competitive advantage for the company. -R.Davies-Adewebi