Michael Wooldridge

Part of the new Ladybird Expert series, Artificial Intelligence is a clear, simple and entertaining introduction tointelligent machines and the humans that program them. Written by computer scientist MichaelWooldridge, Artificial Intelligence chronicles the development of intelligentmachines, from Turing's dream of machines that think, to today's digitalassistants like Siri and Alexa. AI is not something that awaits us in the future. Inside you'll learn how wehave come to rely on embedded AI software and what a world of ubiquitous AI might look like. For an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the sameiconic small hardback format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Eachbeautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced inthe original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.

'A terrific book - essential reading for everyone seeking to make sense of Artificial Intelligence.' Professor Sir Adrian Smith, Director and Chief Executive of the Alan Turing Institute 'Calm, informative and refreshingly free of hype, Wooldridge's effortlessly readable book is the perfect guide to the history and future of AI.' - Tom Chivers, author of The AI Does Not Hate You In this myth-busting guide to AI past and present, one of the world's leading researchers shows why our fears for the future are misplaced. The ultimate dream of AI is to build machines that are like us: conscious and self-aware. While this remains a remote possibility, its rapid progress is already profoundly changing our world. Yet the public debate and media hype is still largely centred on unlikely prospects from sentient machines to dystopian robot takeovers. In this lively and clear-headed guide, Michael Wooldridge challenges the prevailing narrative, revealing how these anxieties distract us from both the more immediate risks that this transformative technology poses - from algorithmic bias to fake news- and the true life-changing potential of the field. The Road to Conscious Machines elucidates the discoveries of its greatest pioneers from Alan Turing to Demis Hassabis, and shows us what today's AI researchers actually think and do. AI appeals to fundamental questions about what it means to be human; so too do the failures and limitations of its past. 'Nobody understands the past, the present, the promise and the peril of this new technology better than Michael Wooldridge. The definitive account of the new AI' Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist

'A terrific book - essential reading for everyone seeking to make sense of Artificial Intelligence' Professor Sir Adrian Smith, Director and Chief Executive of the Alan Turing Institute In this myth-busting guide to AI past and present, one of the world's leading researchers shows why our fears for the future are misplaced. The ultimate dream of AI is to build machines that are like us: conscious and self-aware. While this remains a remote possibility, rapid progress in AI is already transforming our world. Yet the public debate is still largely centred on unlikely prospects, from sentient machines to dystopian robot takeovers. In this lively and clear-headed guide, Michael Wooldridge challenges the prevailing narrative, revealing how the hype distracts us from both the more immediate risks that this technology poses - from algorithmic bias to fake news - and the true life-changing potential of the field. The Road to Conscious Machines elucidates the discoveries of AI's greatest pioneers from Alan Turing to Demis Hassabis, and what today's researchers actually think and do. 'Nobody understands the past, the present, the promise and the peril of this new technology better than Michael Wooldridge. The definitive account' Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist 'Effortlessly readable. The perfect guide to the history and future of AI' Tom Chivers, author of The AI Does Not Hate You