A fresh take on AI’s predictive abilities

? A fresh look at how AI is changing our lives. Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence by economists Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb, focuses on AI’s biggest strength: prediction. This book highlights how AI isn’t about creating the same intelligence that humans have, but rather about predicting outcomes based on data — and how this is becoming a lot faster and cheaper to achieve.

AI excels at using the information it has and using it to make sense of the information it doesn’t have. Because of this, AI tools offer businesses the opportunity to better predict risk, demand, and customer behavior — part of the reason so many industries are interested in possible applications of the tech.

This isn’t a “technology will take over the world” book. Throughout its pages, the authors highlight how AI prediction is just one step in the decision-making process. Human judgment still remains critical, especially with regard to tasks that require creativity and emotional intelligence.

A rosier view of AI-human relations: Contrary to other accounts that stress AI’s potential to replace human decision-making, the book’s authors argue that AI’s advance is not a zero-sum game. Rather than being in competition, the authors suggest that AI and humans should be working together to generate exciting new outcomes.

You can find this book at Diwan.