Nine companies are steering the future of artificial intelligence

Author: Maria Temming / Source: Science News

The Big Nine
Amy Webb
PublicAffairs, $27

Whether artificial intelligence is humankind’s best friend or greatest threat has been widely debated.

We’ve all heard promises of device-studded smart homes conferring unprecedented convenience, as well as warnings of killer robots. The Big Nine is a different kind of story about the potential risks and rewards of AI.

Rather than questioning the character of thinking machines, futurist Amy Webb turns a critical eye on the humans behind the computers. With AI’s development overwhelmingly driven by nine tech powerhouses, she asks: Is it possible for the technology to serve the best interests of everyone?

Webb shines a spotlight on the Big Nine: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Apple (the “G-MAFIA”) in the United States, and Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (the “BAT”) in China. The G-MAFIA is beholden to capitalist market forces; the BAT serves the will of the Chinese government.

The book highlights warning signs of what…

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