Ken Liu’s latest novel ‘All That We See or Seem’ is speculative fiction about AI

AI literacy isn’t optional anymore. These 7 books reveal how large language models actually work, why they’re not magic, and how to think critically about the technology transforming everything around us.

Do you love the Severance series’s exploration of work-life balance gone wrong? These novels dive deeper into the show’s philosophical themes of corporate control, fractured identity, and the cost of surviving under capitalism.

AI literacy isn’t optional anymore. These 7 books reveal how large language models actually work, why they’re not magic, and how to think critically about the technology transforming everything around us.

Artificial Intelligence could revolutionize every aspect of our lives, but only if we can develop AI that reliably carries out its tasks. While some see AI as a cornucopia that will free the human race from drudgery, others see dangers in ceding so much power to digital, non-human minds. In Rebooting AI, Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis argue that modern AI underdelivers on its promise while AI proponents oversell what it can do. Marcus and Davis are AI advocates who feel that current AI research is heading in the wrong direction, with its narrow focus on “big data” and machine learning.

In this guide, we’ll examine how the public perception of modern AI differs from reality, how AI works, and the many ways in which it fails. We’ll then describe Marcus and Davis’s prescription for producing stronger AI systems to benefit the human race. We’ll also highlight where modern AI trends are leading, other experts’ thoughts on machine cognition, and how AI development is affecting business and society at large.

AI literacy isn’t optional anymore. These 7 books reveal how large language models actually work, why they’re not magic, and how to think critically about the technology transforming everything around us.

What if artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t humanity’s greatest threat, but its greatest opportunity for empowerment? In Superagency, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and writer Greg Beato challenge the dominant anxieties around AI, arguing that it can dramatically amplify individual human capabilities while creating collective benefits for society.

Rather than replacing human agency, they contend that AI will help you access expertise, analyze complex problems, and achieve goals that were previously out of reach. They argue that the real risk isn’t AI becoming too powerful, but democratic societies withdrawing from AI development and ceding control to less benevolent actors.

In our guide, we’ll explore Hoffman and Beato’s insights through the lens of a few key questions: What does beneficial AI look like? Are restrictions on its development counterproductive? And how can we actively participate in shaping AI’s future? Along the way, we’ll explore how Hoffman and Beato’s optimistic predictions compare with emerging research on AI’s effects and whether their proposals for shaping AI’s future can work in practice.

Why do we love stories? It’s not just because they’re entertaining; rather, they also satisfy a neurological need that humans evolved over millennia. In Wired for Story, writer and producer Lisa Cron argues that our brains evolved to absorb important survival information through stories, and so writers who want to create compelling narratives should write in a way that satisfies our brains' expectations of story.

In our guide, we’ll explore the formula that the human brain expects to encounter in a story, as well as how you as a writer can employ that formula. We’ll look closely at how to build a protagonist that engages your reader, techniques for creating conflict and advancing plot, and how to create causal links that appeal to the brain’s need for cause-and-effect structure. We’ll also add scientific context for some of Cron’s ideas, as well as additional or alternate advice from expert writers.

Many of us are unknowingly trapped by inherited beliefs, societal expectations, and unquestioned rules that limit our potential. In The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, entrepreneur and self-help expert Vishen Lakhiani provides guidelines to help you escape from those psychological and cultural restraints. Ultimately, he seeks to empower you to live a happy, purposeful life—and to decide for yourself what such a life looks like.

This guide will start with how to examine the ideas your upbringing imposed on you and discard the ones that no longer serve you. We’ll then describe Lakhiani’s two-pronged approach to self-improvement: improving beliefs and improving habits. To conclude, we’ll discuss how to balance being content in the present with being excited about the future.

Our commentary will compare Lakhiani’s principles with other influential self-help books such as Awaken the Giant Within. We’ll also provide scientific research to support Lakhiani’s ideas. Finally, we’ll offer ideas to help you get started on reinventing your mind and your life.

The 21st century will bring changes and challenges unlike any humans have encountered before. Globalism and technological innovations are changing the structures of societies worldwide—and the changes are happening quickly. If people don’t face these challenges and help shape the future, the world could have a class of obsolete workers whose jobs have been automated and people could lose their ability to make their own decisions. In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari highlights the biggest challenges in the modern world, and he offers advice on making sense of and navigating such transitional times.

In this summary, you'll learn how algorithms like Netflix movie recommendations are teaching you to distrust your own judgment, why religion can’t solve 21st-century challenges, and how automation will threaten the jobs of humans in every industry.