These Strange New Minds

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Stunning advances in digital technology have introduced a new wave of human-like AI systems. Chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are already reshaping economies, challenge democracies, and reshaping society in unpredictable ways. And soon, these AI systems could make autonomous decisions on their users' behalf, transforming everything we do. Understanding how they work is crucial.

Can AI systems think, know, and understand?
Could they manipulate or deceive you, and if so, what might they make you do?
Whose interests do they represent?
When will they be able to move beyond words and take action in the real world?

Neuroscientist and AI researcher Christopher Summerfield explores these questions, charting AI's evolution from early ideas in the seventeenth century to today's deep neural networks. His book is the most accessible, up-to-date, and authoritative exploration of this radical technology. With an understanding of AI's inner workings, we can address the existential question of our age: can we look forward to a technological utopia, or are we writing ourselves out of history?

‘Engaging, insightful, panoramic’ Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI & Cofounder of DeepMind

'An eye-opening exploration of a revolution unfolding before our eyes' New York Journal of Books

‘As a leading authority...Summerfield is perfectly situated to explore the meaning and implications of these machines that are so uncannily like – and unlike – ourselves’ Brian Christian, co-author of Algorithms to Live by

'You might choose to be alarmed, excited, or indifferent to LLMs, but you should read Chris’s book before you decide’ Mike Woolridge, author of The Road to Conscious Machines

©2024 Christopher Summerfield (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

A brilliant guide to the most important technology of our times
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI & Cofounder of DeepMind
By far the best guide to a newly emerging species with which we will share the planet for the foreseeable future
Stuart Russell, author of Human Compatible
As a leading authority in both computational neuroscience and the social impacts of AI, Christopher Summerfield is perfectly situated to explore the meaning and implications of these machines that are so uncannily like – and unlike – ourselves
Brian Christian, co-author of Algorithms to Live by
Summerfield takes us on a tour of this astonishing new technolog - general purpose AI - and helps us to understand the issues it raises. You might choose to be alarmed, excited, or indifferent to large language models but you should read Chris’s book before you decide
Mike Woolridge, author of The Road to Conscious Machines
With clarity, insight and wit, Summerfield dives beneath the ever-breaking wave of large language models to reveal the deeper principles at play, and the challenges and opportunities that these powerful new technologies present. An essential and highly readable guide to thinking abut how, and weather, computers can think, what's coming next and what we should do about it
Anil Seth, author of Being You
'A closeup look at the large language models that have radically changed computer technology...a clear-minded, accessible examination of how AI systems work'
Kirkus
For readers fascinated by the future of AI, this book is an eye-opening exploration of a revolution unfolding before our eyes
New York Journal of Books

Summerfield, a neuroscientist at Oxford, charts the evolution of artificial intelligence, from early large language models to today’s ChatGPT, and reflects on the larger questions of learning and
consciousness

The New York Times

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