Rule of the Robots, by Martin Ford, reviewed

We look at the latest book by Martin Ford looking at AI, robots and humanities future potential to coexist, or not, with this rapidly emerging technology.  Published 30 September 2021, £20.00 hbk, ISBN: 9781529345988. See more about the book here.

Rule of the Robots, by Martin Ford, reviewed

A few years ago we reviewed The Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford, so, from the titles it is clear how the author thinks things have progressed since that book in 2015. The topic covered in this book is very much around how dire might things be. Ford does a good job of deconstructing some of the hype and spin too though. Chapter 3, Beyond the Hype is a good, no BS, attempt to be realistic about what may and may not be possible.

Ray Kurzweil’s ideas naturally pop up and are discussed. While Kurzweil has done a lot of great work, some of his ideas have verged towards being considered to be slightly at the crank end of things. Kurzweil may argue that this is what happens when you are so far ahead of the curve, that your insights seem untenable to others. Ford’s narrative offers a fair, reasoned and credible deconstruction of some of Kurzweil’s ideas, as well as other thought provoking futurists too. We found these chapters really useful as they offer a more nuanced and considered analysis of where we are at, what might happen, and what is likely to happen, and by when.

For the general reader there is a good catch up section on how we got from Marvin Minsky and the initial explorations of AI in the 1950s, through Geoffrey Hinton’s time in the neural nets wilderness, before the epic turn around and blooming of AI subsequently. Ford also tackles the current topic of whether we are approaching another AI winter, or perhaps, more likely, a mild becalming as the technology catches up with the hype.

We enjoyed this book, and feel that it has something both for those who know a fair amount about the issues and challenges in this area, and also for the general reader wanting to get up to speed on this topic. In terms of whether we are seeing the beginning of the era of the ‘Rule of the robots’, well it seems like Ford feels we are not there yet, but we do have some very real challenges to deal with. Check it out.

My new book, RULE OF THE ROBOTS: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything, is now available in hardcover, ebook and audio book versions.https://t.co/g1iXdJHrJx#AI #RuleoftheRobots pic.twitter.com/JkqfVXz9TU

— Martin Ford (@MFordFuture) September 15, 2021

More about the book

What happens as AI takes over our lives?  How will affect our lives , our work and our economy? What are the risks and how do we tackle them?

If you have a smartphone, you have AI in your pocket. AI is impossible to avoid online. And it has already changed everything from how doctors diagnose disease to how you interact with friends or read the news. But in Rule of the Robots, Martin Ford argues that the true revolution is yet to come.

In this sequel to his prescient New York Times bestseller Rise of the Robots, Ford presents us with a striking vision of the very near future. He argues that AI is a uniquely powerful technology that is altering every dimension of human life, often for the better. For example, advanced science is being done by machines, solving devilish problems in molecular biology that humans could not, and AI can help us fight climate change or the next pandemic.

It also has a capacity for profound harm. Deep fakes—AI-generated audio or video of events that never happened—are poised to cause havoc throughout society. AI empowers authoritarian regimes like China with unprecedented mechanisms for social control. And AI can be deeply biased, learning bigoted attitudes from us and perpetuating them.

Ford shows that this is not a technology to simply embrace, or let others worry about. The machines are coming, and they won’t stop.  Each of us needs to know what that means if we are to thrive in the twenty-first century. And Rule of the Robots is the essential guide to all of it: both AI and the future of our economy, our politics, our lives.

Critical acclaim for Rise of the Robots:

‘Well-researched and disturbingly persuasive.’ Financial Times

[A] breathtaking new book on modern economics.’ Forbes.com

‘Lucid, comprehensive and unafraid to grapple fairly with those who dispute Ford’s basic thesis, Rise of the Robots is an indispensable contribution to a long-running argument’  Los Angeles Times

‘Mr Ford lucidly sets out myriad examples of how focused applications of versatile machines (coupled with human helpers where necessary) could displace or de-skill many jobs His answer to a sharp decline in employment is a guaranteed basic income, a safety net that he suggests would both cushion the effect on the newly unemployable and encourage entrepreneurship among those creative enough to make a new way for themselves. This is a drastic prescription for the ills of modern industrialisation, ills whose severity and very existence are hotly contested. Rise of the Robots provides a compelling case that they are real, even if its more dire predictions are harder to accept’ Wall Street Journal.

Martin Ford is a futurist and the author of three books: Rise of the Robots, winner of the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2015, Architects of Intelligence, and The Lights in the Tunnel. He is also the founder of a Silicon Valley-based software development firm.

Basic Books UK is a new imprint of John Murray Press, run by Publishing Director Sarah Caro. It publishes a wide range of leading, original voices from the worlds of politics, history, economics, science, sociology and literature, providing readers with a sense of the interconnectedness of ideas and institutions that determine how we live, work and feel. Through accessible writing from around the world that surprises and informs, Basic Books UK explores the key issues that affect us daily, both as individuals and as society.

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