I would like to recommend to you a book that I believe will help you understand Artificial Intelligence (AI). The book is “The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence And The Future Of Humanity” by Jason Thacker. Thacker is an Assistant Professor at Boyce College. Boyce is one of the colleges that we recently visited with our son who will soon be graduating from high school. Jason Thacker is also the Project Leader of Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles.
THE TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Foundation: Man and Machine
- Self: Alexa, Are You There?
- Medicine: The Doctor Will See You Now
- Family: Welcome to the Family
- Work: Meet Your New Coworker
- War: The New Battlefield
- Data and Privacy: You Are The Product
- Future: What’s Coming Next?
The Table of Contents gives you a fairly good idea of the types of things that are discussed in this book. Let me give you FOUR REASONS why I am recommending this book to you.
IT IS WELL-WRITTEN AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND
I was a bit worried that a book about AI would be over my head and too complex for me to really understand. That is definitely not the case with this book. For example, here is the definition of AI, “Artificial Intelligence is an emerging field of technology defined as nonbiological intelligence, where a machine is programmed to accomplish complex goals by applying knowledge to the task at hand.” p. 24 Thacker does a great job of taking a huge topic and making it easy to comprehend for everyday people like me.
IT IS WRITTEN WITH A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
The author examines all the topics that are highlighted in the Table of Contents and he does so through the lens of Scripture. In my opinion, this is what makes the book so helpful. “Artificial intelligence is the technology of today nd tomorrow. So where do we begin our journey to understand it? We must begin where everything began: in the pages of Scripture. Scripture is our guide to navigating this world with wisdom and ultimately points us to Jesus Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). p. 16
IT GIVES GOOD ADVICE TO PARENTS AND FAMILIES
Thacker is clear that technology is amoral, neither good or bad. But he does give a number of warnings that we as followers of Christ need to be aware of. He talks about the dangers of technology on teens and gives some solid advice to parents so that they have some ideas regarding how they can lead their family. “As parents, we are responsible for leading our families to set the patterns for how and when AI tools are used. Just like you don’t just hand the car keys to your fifteen-year-old who just their driver’s permit, don’t hand your children a new piece of technology without first weighing the benefits and risks.” p. 97
IT HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND HOW AI IS IMPACTING EVERY AREA OF OUR LIFE
As you can tell from the Table of Contents, this book will open your eyes to just how prevalent AI already is. AI is involved in your home, your smart phone, medicine, work, war (the conversation about ‘just war’ was interesting in light of all that is going on in our world today), church, etc.
“Take Netflix and Amazon, for example. Both companies use highly advanced algorithms and AI systems to recommend movies and products to keep us engaged with their platforms. These systems make decisions based on a trove of data collected on us and thousands of people around us to help determine what we might like to see or purchase next. This is also true on social media platforms that display messages that they think we will like and engage with to keep us coming back for more.” p. 29
After reading this book I’m confident that you will have a much better grasp on what AI is all about (the good and the bad) and how to safeguard yourself and your family.
MichaelWallenmeyer.com 