Six Books about AI and Robots for Fable.co
(3 fiction, 3 non-fiction)
The word “robot” was coined 100 years ago, shortly after the 1918 Pandemic. This folio explores humanity’s ongoing quest to create truly intelligent machines. It includes 3 timeless novels by acclaimed bestselling authors who provide riveting alternatives to the Frankenstein myth and 3 insightful new nonfiction books that cut through the hype to clearly explain how these technologies work and their social and economic implications.
1. Exhalation, by Ted Chiang (2019)
2. I Robot, by Isaac Asimov (1950)
3. Machines Like Me, by Ian McEwan (2019)
4. Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code, by Ruha Benjamin (2019)
5. Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control, Stuart Russell (2019)
6. The Alignment Problem, by Brian Christian (2020)
Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code By Ruha Benjamin
In this important 2019 book, Princeton University African American Studies Professor, Ruha Benjamin, asks: “Are Robots Racist?” In response, she coins the phrase “New Jim Code” to describe how Artificial Intelligence can perpetuate inequality and discrimination through a form of codified racism that is often unintended and buried under layers of “digital denial.” To provide
a cultural context for AI and illuminate structural racism within technology, Benjamin opens the “Black box” that shrouds most AI systems to reveal how they code inequality. Benjamin unpacks examples such as how Netflix recommendation algorithms can artificially inflate the role of Black actors, how AI used for hiring can emplify racial bias in employment decisions, how new risk assessment tools in policing can reinforce the historic criminalization of racialized people. Benjamin’s title is also a code, implying how our race to innovate can accelerate inequality and how the assumption that technology is neutral can obscure its consequences.
I Robot by Isaac Asimov
In this classic sci fi masterpiece, Isaac Asimov imagines a world where humans coexist with intelligent machines. Written in the 1940s, I Robot introduces the Three Laws of Robotics, creating the foundation for countless books and movies. I Robot takes readers on a down-to-earth, exciting, and deeply enjoyable journey where robots struggle to obey the contradictory laws set down for them by fallible humans. The profound ideas raised in this book are highly relevant to contemporary discussions and research about the risks of AI.
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
An acclaimed British author of 17 bestselling novels focuses on Artificial Intelligence in this 2019 masterpiece. McEwan describes an erotic love-triangle between an anxious stock trader, his seductive neighbor with a dark secret, and an endearing, hyperintelligent robot programmed to please. McEwan is a master storyteller, adept at creating multi-faceted characters that convey the complexity of human / robot relations with exceptional incisiveness and energy. Set in an alternate history that incorporates real AI pioneers Alan Turing and Demis Hassabis, McEwan revisits the Frankenstein myth to construct a thought-provoking, disturbing, and morally complex story where the robot struggles to maintain moral clarity amid human imperfections.
Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Ted Chiang’s widely celebrated collection of stories was selected as a best book of 2019 by both Barack Obama and the New York Times. Including nuanced new perspectives on topics from virtual reality to time travel, Chiang’s novella-length story “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” explores Artificial Intelligence. In a very different take on the Frankenstein myth Chiang’s characters explore moral dilemmas involving sex and corporate greed. This compelling story questions the long term responsibility inherent in creating something with a life of its own.
Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell
Stuart Russell is a highly respected UC Berkeley professor who co-authored the definitive textbook on Artificial Intelligence. In this 2019 book, Russell takes on the fundamental question: could AI become a threat to our jobs, our lives, and to our humanity? In response, he encourages us to radically rethink and rebuild AI from the ground up. Russell imagines a rich range of possible outcomes if machines become more intelligent than us, and makes a convincing case that – like Asimov’s Laws of Robotics - the solution requires us to carefully define and institute the core principles that can govern the machines of tomorrow.
The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian
With degrees in computer science, philosophy, and poetry, Brian Christian conveys esoteric concepts in mathematics and machine intelligence in crystal-clear, elegant prose. In his new book, Christian considers the “Alignment Problem”: how can the developers of a system must anticipate how it will evolve to ensure that it aligns with their intended goals? This is relevant to those developing any policy, product, or program. Clearly the developers of Facebook and the iPhone did not anticipate how their inventions would change society. Like Ruha Benjamin, Christian reveals surprising case studies where machine learning algorithms lead to unintended consequences. Christian expertly summarizes the work of pioneers in psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence as he provides insight into the human, social, and political values at stake in artificial intelligence.
Two additional books:
Artificial Intelligence: a Guide for Thinking Humans by Melanie Mitchell
Melanie Mitchell is the professor we wished we had in college. In crisp and clear language, she lays out the concepts behind deep learning and reinforcement learning and the debates at the center of Artificial Intelligence today. Mitchell’s 2019 book questions the hype around AI and lays bare common misconceptions, encouraging readers to be skeptical about the claims of corporations and the trust we put into such systems. This book, written by someone who has worked in the field for 30 years, is an accessible introduction to contemporary Artificial Intelligence.
Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers
Richard Powers, winner of a MacArthur prize and a 2019 Pulitzer, is among the most gifted and encyclopedic authors of our time. His novels are emotionally and intellectually dazzling and this 1995 novel about AI is no exception. Powers draws on his personal experience as a computer programmer to craft a story about computer-based neural networks -- written twenty years before the rise of Deep Learning. The provocative idea at the core of this novel is a robot trained by “reading” the Great Books of the Western Canon. Galatea 2.2 is an ingenious thriller about intelligence and the extent to which it can be synthesized in a world that does not follow the logic of literature.
Ken Goldberg is the William S. Floyd Distinguished Chair in Engineering at UC Berkeley and an award-winning roboticist, filmmaker, artist and popular public speaker on AI and robotics.