Oren Etzioni
Technical Director, AI2 Incubator. Founding CEO, AIlen Institute for AI (AI2). Professor Emeritus, UW. Venture Partner, Madrona Venture Group.
10+ Book Recommendations by Oren Etzioni
The Ethical Algorithm
Michael Kearns
Over the course of a generation, algorithms have gone from mathematical abstractions to powerful mediators of daily life. Algorithms have made our lives more efficient, more entertaining, and, sometimes, better informed. At the same time, complex algorithms are increasingly violating the basic rights of individual citizens. Allegedly anonymized datasets routinely leak our most sensitive personal information; statistical models for everything from mortgages to college admissions reflect racial and gender bias. Meanwhile, users manipulate algorithms to "game" search engines, spam filters, online reviewing services, and navigation apps. Understanding and improving the science behind the algorithms that run our lives is rapidly becoming one of the most pressing issues of this century. Traditional fixes, such as laws, regulations and watchdog groups, have proven woefully inadequate. Reporting from the cutting edge of scientific research, The Ethical Algorithm offers a new approach: a set of principled solutions based on the emerging and exciting science of socially aware algorithm design. Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth explain how we can better embed human principles into machine code - without halting the advance of data-driven scientific exploration. Weaving together innovative research with stories of citizens, scientists, and activists on the front lines, The Ethical Algorithm offers a compelling vision for a future, one in which we can better protect humans from the unintended impacts of algorithms while continuing to inspire wondrous advances in technology.JUST published: Really enjoyed reading The Ethical algorithm by Michael Kearns & Aaron Roth. It’s an accessible accurate overview of Key ethical issues in AI. Excellent examples & elegant prose.
Rebooting AI
Gary Marcus
Two leaders in the field offer a compelling analysis of the current state of the art and reveal the steps we must take to achieve a truly robust artificial intelligence. Despite the hype surrounding AI, creating an intelligence that rivals or exceeds human levels is far more complicated than we have been led to believe. Professors Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis have spent their careers at the forefront of AI research and have witnessed some of the greatest milestones in the field, but they argue that a computer beating a human in Jeopardy! does not signal that we are on the doorstep of fully autonomous cars or superintelligent machines. The achievements in the field thus far have occurred in closed systems with fixed sets of rules, and these approaches are too narrow to achieve genuine intelligence. The real world, in contrast, is wildly complex and open-ended. How can we bridge this gap? What will the consequences be when we do? Taking inspiration from the human mind, Marcus and Davis explain what we need to advance AI to the next level, and suggest that if we are wise along the way, we won't need to worry about a future of machine overlords. If we focus on endowing machines with common sense and deep understanding, rather than simply focusing on statistical analysis and gatherine ever larger collections of data, we will be able to create an AI we can trust--in our homes, our cars, and our doctors' offices. Rebooting AI provides a lucid, clear-eyed assessment of the current science and offers an inspiring vision of how a new generation of AI can make our lives better.I really enjoyed @GaryMarcus's book Rebooting AI. As @rodneyabrooks put it: a welcome anti-dote to hype.
Reclaiming Patriotism
Amitai Etzioni
Amitai Etzioni has made his reputation by transcending unwieldy, and even dangerous, binaries such as left/right or globalism/nativism. In his new book, Etzioni calls for nothing less than a social transformation--led by a new social movement--to save our world's democracies, currently under threat in today's volatile and profoundly divided political environments. The United States, along with scores of other nations, has seen disturbing challenges to the norms and institutions of our democratic society, particularly in the rise of exclusive forms of nationalism and populism. Focusing on nations as the core elements of global communities, Etzioni envisions here a patriotic movement that rebuilds rather than splits communities and nations. Beginning with moral dialogues that seek to find common ground in our values and policies, Etzioni sets out a path toward cultivating a "good" form of nationalism based on this shared understanding of the common good. Working to broaden civic awareness and participation, this approach seeks to suppress neither identity politics nor special interests in its efforts to lead us to work productively with others. Reclaiming Patriotism offers a hopeful and pragmatic solution to our current crisis in democracy--a patriotic movement that could have a transformative, positive impact on our foreign policy, the world order, and the future of capitalism.Reclaiming Patriotism, Important new book by Amitai Etzioni https://t.co/wBZDYb2QQj free on Kindle, and the hardcover is on Amazon
The Ai Advantage
Thomas H. Davenport
Cutting through the hype, a practical guide to using artificial intelligence for business benefits and competitive advantage.ICYMI: China is catching up to the US on artificial intelligence research https://t.co/yMIRNEcHiY based on the book "The AI Advantage" by Thomas H. Davenport. Our empirical results are here: https://t.co/d5Tq7zXlHB
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss
A hero named Kvothe, now living under an assumed name as the humble proprietor of an inn, recounts his transformation from a magically gifted young man into the most notorious wizard, musician, thief, and assassin in his world. Reprint.@susanthesquark Fiction: the name of the wind, Lexicon, Autonomous, All the light we cannot see. Nonfiction: Bad Blood, Pandora’s lab
Lexicon
Max Barry
Recruited into an exclusive government school where students are taught the science of coercion to support a secretive organization, orphaned street hustler Emily Ruff becomes the school's most talented prodigy before catastrophically falling in love.@susanthesquark Fiction: the name of the wind, Lexicon, Autonomous, All the light we cannot see. Nonfiction: Bad Blood, Pandora’s lab
Autonomous
Annalee Newitz
"Autonomous is to biotech and AI what Neuromancer was to the Internet."—Neal Stephenson "Something genuinely and thrillingly new in the naturalistic, subjective, paradoxically humanistic but non-anthropomorphic depiction of bot-POV—and all in the service of vivid, solid storytelling."—William Gibson When anything can be owned, how can we be free Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane. Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand. And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?@susanthesquark Fiction: the name of the wind, Lexicon, Autonomous, All the light we cannot see. Nonfiction: Bad Blood, Pandora’s lab
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
A cloth bag containing 20 paperback copies of the title that may also include a folder with sign out sheets.@susanthesquark Fiction: the name of the wind, Lexicon, Autonomous, All the light we cannot see. Nonfiction: Bad Blood, Pandora’s lab
Bad Blood
L. T. Vargus
The body slumps over the steering wheel. Pools of blood going tacky on the dash. Two shots to the back of the head.A mafia-style hit in a small town.Special Agent Violet Darger must make sense of this savagery. Figure out how brutality like this could happen in rural Michigan.The victim had been living the American dream. A small-business owner who built a construction empire. Started a family. Coached youth hockey. He seemed to have it all. But his surface life didn't tell the full story. He carried dark secrets to the grave. Left clues which offer more questions than answers, clues that seem to lead Darger to Detroit.In the city, she finds despair. Corruption. Decay.Blocks of vacant buildings line the streets. Crumbling. Caving in. It resembles ancient ruins more than a modern American city. Concrete caverns waiting to be explored.And there, among the rubble, she gets swept up in the hunt for a notorious hit man.He kills for profit. Navigates the brutal world of organized crime. Harbors secrets of his own, albeit domestic ones.He holds the answers to all of Darger's questions, but only if she can catch him.@susanthesquark Fiction: the name of the wind, Lexicon, Autonomous, All the light we cannot see. Nonfiction: Bad Blood, Pandora’s lab
Pandora's Lab
Paul A. Offit
Exploring the most fascinating and significant scientific missteps, the author presents seven cautionary lessons to separate good science from bad.@susanthesquark Fiction: the name of the wind, Lexicon, Autonomous, All the light we cannot see. Nonfiction: Bad Blood, Pandora’s lab