Five Starter Books to Read To Get Smart About AI: It's the hot topic that everyone is talking about. Here's where to begin to find out what it's all about.

"The recent eruption of artificial intelligence through online tools such as ChatGPT has prompted a frenzy of speculation about its future and ours.

What's clear is that something important and unprecedented is happening. That's one reason so many books have been written on the subject. Here are five, recommended by scientists and authors who have immersed themselves in the subject, to help you understand how we got here and where we are going.

"Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid"

By Douglas Hofstadter

Hofstadter's exploration of the nature of consciousness and human intelligence, published in 1979, won the Pulitzer Prize and was cited first on the lists of two of the insightful figures in the field we contacted. "It's a beautifully written intellectual trip through some very deep ideas in logic and mind," says Michael Wooldridge, a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford. "AI is not the main focus, but countless students over the past 40 years were led to AI through the ideas in this book."

Brian Christian, whose books include "The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values," says "Hofstadter's concrete predictions about the pace and limitations of AI progress have not aged especially well, but very few have, and the book remains a tour de force of both style and content, and a moving tribute to human imagination and human consciousness."

"The Age of AI: And Our Human Future"

By Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher

Kissinger teamed up with Schmidt and Huttenlocher to produce this 2021 assessment of how AI will change the world. The book argues that AI will alter the human relationship with knowledge and present particularly troublesome risks in the arena of international relations.

Ray Kurzweil, the renowned futurist who expects computers to eclipse human intelligence before very long, recommends the book, which he says "provides a comprehensive look at the pluses and minuses of advanced AI."

"Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence"

By Kate Crawford

Crawford's sweeping 2021 survey "is a good collection of some of the most concerning problems with AI and tech," says philosopher Carissa Veliz, author of "Privacy Is Power."

She says the book "demystifies AI by focusing on its material sustenance and composition. It's about what these machines are made of and who makes them. It's about the mines that are used to extract the metals necessary to build phones and to build data servers and so on. The main thesis of the book is that artificial intelligence is neither artificial -- because it depends on the natural environment -- nor is it genuine intelligence."

"The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the 21st Century's Greatest Dilemma"

By Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar

Artificial intelligence offers the potential for immense benefits; Kurzweil notes its role in accelerating Covid vaccine research.

But can we control AI? And how serious is the risk of truly catastrophic consequences? Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind (an AI venture that is now part of Google), addresses these questions in a new book written with Bhaskar. It was recommended by Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered AI.

"Mustafa was not only one of the architects of the AI revolution," says Brynjolfsson, "but also a man who is intensely concerned about the massive disruption that these technologies are likely to create.This book gave me a much deeper understanding of how difficult it will be to contain AI."

"Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation"

By Joseph Weizenbaum

"As we enter the era of chatbots," says Christian, "it's powerful to remember that Joseph Weizenbaum not only wrote the very first one, but that he was soon horrified by what it represented." Weizenbaum's book, a classic in the field, appeared in 1976 but "holds up surprisingly well as a prescient note of caution for our current age."

Crawford also recommended this one. "How much should you trust AI?" she asks. "This prescient book, written by one of the founders of artificial intelligence and one of its great critics, will make you ask the question in a new way. Weizenbaum created the Eliza chatbot in 1966, and he saw before anyone else how easily people will be taken in by machines that mimic human conversation. The book is a stark warning against sacrificing human judgment." [1]

1. Workplace Technology (A Special Report) --- Five Starter Books to Read To Get Smart About AI: It's the hot topic that everyone is talking about. Here's where to begin to find out what it's all about. Akst, Daniel. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 11 Sep 2023: R.8.

 

We are losing another sanctions war. Where is our war propaganda? We must shout about our victories: The trade war turns into a cell phone war

What? Pooping in the Commerce Department? Unbelievable...

     "Beijing is banning iPhones, Washington is taking a close look at a new Huawei model. The conflict between the USA and China is escalating again to a worrying level.

 

     A small cluster has formed in the middle of Shanghai around the latest geopolitical bone of contention. A dozen customers stand around the table in the store with the latest smartphone and examine the devices on display. “Huawei Mate 60 Pro” is emblazoned on the large screens in the flagship store.

 

     The conflict between the USA and China has probably never been so focused on one device. The new phone is much better, the chips built into it are much more advanced than most observers would have thought possible due to the US sanctions against Huawei. According to Huawei, satellite telephony is now possible. Above all, according to tests, the device appears to be 5G-capable and the semiconductors have a structure size of 7 nanometers.

 

     Huawei has found it difficult to produce a 5G-capable cell phone in recent years due to the sanctions. The American Department of Commerce announced an investigation into the device at the end of the week. The Chinese Foreign Ministry reacted promptly. When asked about the investigation, a spokeswoman criticized in a press conference that the USA was abusing its power to suppress Chinese companies.

 

     Huawei cell phone sold out quickly

 

     The trade war, which has long been a semiconductor war, also became a cell phone war last week. Because while China celebrated the Huawei cell phone and calls for new sanctions were loud in the USA, Apple simultaneously became the new plaything of geopolitics. The company, whose suppliers employ millions of people in China, lost $200 billion in market value on the stock market within two days. Investors were spooked by reports that Beijing is banning iPhones from more government departments and state-owned companies.

 

     Huawei, on the other hand, seems to have willingly brought its latest smartphone onto the world political stage. While US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo visited China a week and a half ago, the company quietly put the device up for sale. The timing may have been chosen deliberately; even state media put the word “coincidentally” in quotation marks in their reporting. In any case, there is no longer any sign of the relaxation that Raimondo's visit was supposed to bring.

 

     Shortly afterwards, the Huawei cell phone was sold out everywhere and there was huge excitement in China. The device dominated the debate on social networks, and speculation was rife as to how Huawei could produce such a cell phone. There was also patriotism. A vulgar post that said you only need to pay the price of 6,999 RMB to defecate at the US Department of Commerce received more than 50,000 likes from users on the Chinese version of Tiktok.

 

     Communist newspaper is happy about shockwaves

 

     The state media continued to fan the flames of patriotism. The "Global Times", a newspaper of the Communist Party, celebrated the device, was pleased about the "shock waves" that the cell phone had caused in the USA, and even worked on individual articles in American media about the device. The company itself is holding back and watching the goings-on.

 

     The new processor is said to deliver twice as much top performance as its predecessor and leave behind a number of comparable products such as those from the US chip company Qualcomm. The previous model, the Mate 40 Pro, was controlled by a processor that Huawei had designed at least important parts in-house via its own chip design company HiSilicon. Huawei has further developed the processor over the past three years and then had it mass-produced by the Chinese contract manufacturer SMIC, which is also subject to US sanctions.

 

     The component shows that China is apparently able to mass produce chips with structure sizes of 7 nanometers - and the finer the structures, the more powerful a smartphone chip can be. The feature size is also what the US is most concerned about: "We are working to obtain more information about the character and composition of the alleged 7-nanometer chip," said the US Commerce Department spokeswoman, commenting on the investigation announced. Until now, it was thought that only Taiwanese, Korean and American manufacturers were able to do this.

 

     Most components come from Chinese production

 

     Western chip specialists who took a closer look at the new smartphone model also found numerous innovations in central parts such as self-developed computing cores, graphics components and artificial intelligence functionalities. Most of the components actually come from Chinese production, but some special chips come from the Korean memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix. The Koreans immediately launched an internal investigation. Since the Chinese were hit by the Americans' ban, the Koreans no longer maintain official relations with Huawei. However, SK Hynix manufactures its chips in China, among other places.

 

     In view of the export restrictions imposed by Washington on entire machine parks for the production of semiconductors, the 7-nanometer chips are no small thing. Europe cannot currently offer anything comparable; in America, the industry leader there, Intel, is struggling to master the processes. So the question that people in the West are currently asking themselves is: How did the Chinese do it? Chips require special machines with very complicated lithography systems.

 

     But they are only controlled by a few in the world. This is where all the threads come together at the Dutch ASML Group. However, the company is prohibited from delivering its most advanced machines to the Middle Kingdom. Chinese contract manufacturers like SMIC equipped their factories with older machines long before the embargo.

 

Huawei is said to be in the process of further developing these systems on its own. ASML chief Peter Wennink warned in an interview in the Netherlands this week that isolating China is hopeless and "is forcing the country to become very innovative." [1]

 

1. Aus Handelskrieg wird Handykrieg. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online)Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Sep 10, 2023. Von Stephan Finsterbusch und Gustav Theile

Mes pralaimime dar vieną sankcijų karą. Kur mūsų karo propaganda? Reikia rėkti apie mūsų pergales: prekybos karas virsta mobiliųjų telefonų karu

Ką? Kakoja Prekybos departamente? Neįtikėtina...

     „Pekinas uždraudžia „iPhone“, Vašingtonas įdėmiai žiūri į naują „Huawei“ modelį. JAV ir Kinijos konfliktas vėl perauga iki nerimą keliančio lygio.

 

     Šanchajaus viduryje aplink naujausią geopolitinį nesutarimų kaulą susiformavo nedidelis klasteris. Dešimtys pirkėjų stovi parduotuvėje prie stalo su naujausiu išmaniuoju telefonu ir apžiūrinėja rodomus įrenginius. „Huawei Mate 60 Pro“ puikuojasi dideliuose pavyzdinės parduotuvės ekranuose.

 

     Konfliktas tarp JAV ir Kinijos, tikriausiai, dar niekada nebuvo taip sutelktas į vieną įrenginį. Naujasis telefonas yra daug geresnis, jame įmontuoti lustai daug pažangesni, nei dauguma stebėtojų manytų, kad tai įmanoma dėl JAV sankcijų Huawei. „Huawei“ teigimu, palydovinė telefonija dabar įmanoma. Visų pirma, remiantis bandymais, atrodo, kad įrenginys palaiko 5G ryšį, o puslaidininkių struktūros dydis yra 7 nanometrai.

 

     Dėl sankcijų „Huawei“ pastaraisiais metais sunkiai gamino mobilųjį telefoną, palaikantį 5G ryšį. Savaitės pabaigoje Amerikos prekybos departamentas paskelbė apie įrenginio tyrimą. Kinijos užsienio reikalų ministerija sureagavo operatyviai. Paklausta apie tyrimą, atstovė spaudos konferencijoje kritikavo, kad JAV piktnaudžiauja savo galia, kad slopinti Kinijos įmones.

 

     „Huawei“ mobilusis telefonas greitai išparduodamas

 

     Prekybos karas, kuris ilgą laiką buvo puslaidininkių karas, praėjusią savaitę tapo ir mobiliųjų telefonų karu. Kadangi Kinija šventė „Huawei“ mobilųjį telefoną ir JAV skambėjo raginimai dėl naujų sankcijų, „Apple“ tuo pat metu tapo nauju geopolitikos žaidimu. Bendrovė, kurios tiekėjai Kinijoje samdo milijonus žmonių, per dvi dienas akcijų rinkoje prarado 200 mlrd. dolerių. Investuotojus gąsdino pranešimai, kad Pekinas uždraudžia „iPhone“ daugiau vyriausybės departamentų ir valstybinių įmonių.

 

     Kita vertus, atrodo, kad „Huawei“ savo naujausią išmanųjį telefoną noriai atnešė į pasaulio politinę sceną. Kol JAV prekybos sekretorė Gina Raimondo prieš pusantros savaitės lankėsi Kinijoje, įmonė tyliai išleido įrenginį pardavimui. Laikas galėjo būti pasirinktas sąmoningai; net valstybinė žiniasklaida savo pranešimuose žodį „atsitiktinai“ įdėjo į kabutes. Bet kuriuo atveju, nebėra nė ženklo atsipalaidavimo, kurį turėjo atnešti Raimondo apsilankymas.

 

     Netrukus po to „Huawei“ mobilusis telefonas buvo išparduotas visur, o Kinijoje kilo didžiulis jaudulys. Įrenginys dominavo diskusijose socialiniuose tinkluose, o spėlionės, kaip „Huawei“ galėtų pagaminti tokį mobilųjį telefoną, netrūko. Buvo ir patriotizmo. Vulgarus įrašas, kuriame teigiama, kad norint pasituštinti JAV prekybos departamente reikia sumokėti tik 6 999 RMB, sulaukė daugiau, nei 50 000 „Patinka“ paspaudimų iš kiniškos „Tiktok“ versijos vartotojų.

 

     Komunistinis laikraštis džiaugiasi smūgio bangomis

 

     Valstybinė žiniasklaida ir toliau kurstė patriotizmo ugnį. Komunistų partijos laikraštis „Global Times“ džiaugėsi šiuo įrenginiu, džiaugėsi „šoko bangomis“, kurias mobilusis telefonas sukėlė JAV, ir netgi dirbo prie atskirų straipsnių Amerikos žiniasklaidoje apie įrenginį. Pati įmonė susilaiko ir stebi, kas vyksta.

 

     Teigiama, kad naujasis procesorius užtikrina dvigubai didesnį našumą nei jo pirmtakas ir palieka užpakalyje daug panašių produktų, pavyzdžiui, JAV lustų kompanijos „Qualcomm“. Ankstesnis modelis „Mate 40 Pro“ buvo valdomas procesoriumi, kurį „Huawei“ sukūrė, bent svarbias dalis, per savo lustų projektavimo įmonę „HiSilicon“. Per pastaruosius trejus metus „Huawei“ toliau tobulino procesorių, o vėliau jį masiškai pagamino Kinijos kontraktinis gamintojas SMIC, kuriam taip pat taikomos JAV sankcijos.

 

     Komponentas rodo, kad Kinija, matyt, gali masiškai gaminti lustus, kurių struktūros dydis yra 7 nanometrai – ir kuo smulkesnės struktūros, tuo galingesnis gali būti išmaniojo telefono lustas. JAV taip pat labiausiai nerimauja dėl funkcijos dydžio: „Stengiamės gauti daugiau informacijos apie tariamo 7 nanometrų lusto pobūdį ir sudėtį“, – komentuodama paskelbtą tyrimą sakė JAV prekybos departamento atstovė. Iki šiol buvo manoma, kad tai sugeba tik Taivano, Korėjos ir Amerikos gamintojai.

 

     Dauguma komponentų yra iš Kinijos gamybos

 

     Vakarų lustų specialistai, atidžiau pažvelgę ​​į naująjį išmaniojo telefono modelį, taip pat rado daugybę naujovių centrinėse dalyse, tokiose, kaip savarankiškai sukurti skaičiavimo branduoliai, grafikos komponentai ir dirbtinio intelekto funkcijos. Dauguma komponentų iš tikrųjų yra iš kinų gamyklų , tačiau kai kurie specialūs lustai atkeliauja iš Korėjos atminties lustų gamintojo SK Hynix. Korėjiečiai nedelsdami pradėjo vidinį tyrimą. Kadangi kinus ištiko amerikiečių draudimas, korėjiečiai nebepalaiko oficialių santykių su „Huawei“. Tačiau SK Hynix savo lustus, be kitų vietų, gamina Kinijoje.

 

     Atsižvelgiant į Vašingtono taikomus eksporto apribojimus ištisiems puslaidininkių gamybos mašinų parkams, 7 nanometrų lustai nėra smulkmena. Europa šiuo metu negali pasiūlyti nieko panašaus; Amerikoje pramonės lyderė „Intel“ sunkiai įsisavina šiuos procesus. Taigi Vakarų žmonės šiuo metu sau užduoda klausimą: kaip tai padarė kinai? Lustams reikia specialių mašinų su labai sudėtingomis litografijos sistemomis.

 

     Tačiau jas valdo tik nedaugelis pasaulyje. Čia susijungia visos Nyderlandų ASML grupės gijos. Tačiau įmonei draudžiama pristatyti pažangiausias mašinas į Vidurinę Karalystę. Kinijos sutartiniai gamintojai, tokie, kaip SMIC, įrengė savo gamyklas su senesnėmis mašinomis dar gerokai prieš embargą. Teigiama, kad „Huawei“ toliau kuria šias sistemas savarankiškai. ASML vadovas Peteris Wenninkas, šią savaitę duodamas interviu Nyderlanduose, perspėjo, kad Kinijos izoliavimas yra beviltiškas ir „verčia šalį tapti labai novatoriška“ [1].

 

1. Aus Handelskrieg wird Handykrieg. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online)Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Sep 10, 2023. Von Stephan Finsterbusch und Gustav Theile

Expensive Copy Of Chinese Actions

   "The West is emulating China's Silk Road project. But politically motivated lending can be expensive. So please, not another Silk Road.

 

     The West is fighting back. After China was able to expand its influence in the world for a long time with cheap loans and large infrastructure projects, the United States and its partners are now using the G-20 summit in India to announce something similar.

 

     Chinese President Xi Jinping did not arrive. One can only speculate about the reasons, but in any case he left the stage in New Delhi to the others. They knew how to use it. While the vision of a fast train connection between India and Europe is fascinating, there is lively speculation about pipelines through which green hydrogen will flow from the East to the West in the future.

 

     At the same time, they want to strengthen financial organizations in Washington. A new instrument is intended to enable the World Bank to issue more loans for the benefit of everyone. But be careful: not everything that looks nice is worth it. The Chinese in particular are having this painful experience with politically motivated lending. The West has to do better. So please, no more Silk Road." [1]

 

1. Teure China-Kopie. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online)Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Sep 10, 2023. Von Manfred Schäfers

Brangi kiniškų veiksmų kopija

„Vakarai mėgdžioja Kinijos Šilko kelio projektą. Tačiau politiškai motyvuotas skolinimas gali būti brangus. Taigi, prašau, nereikia dar vieno Šilko kelio.

 

     Vakarai ginasi. Po to, kai Kinija ilgą laiką galėjo plėsti savo įtaką pasaulyje pigiomis paskolomis ir dideliais infrastruktūros projektais, Jungtinės Valstijos ir jos partneriai dabar naudojasi G-20 viršūnių susitikimu Indijoje, kad paskelbtų kažką panašaus.

 

     Kinijos prezidentas Xi Jinpingas neatvyko. Apie priežastis galima tik spėlioti, bet bet kuriuo atveju sceną Naujajame Delyje jis paliko kitiems. Jie mokėjo scena naudotis. Nors greito traukinio susisiekimo tarp Indijos ir Europos vizija žavi, gyvai spėliojama apie dujotiekius, kuriais ateityje žalias vandenilis tekės iš Rytų į Vakarus.

 

     Kartu jie nori sustiprinti finansines organizacijas Vašingtone. Nauja priemonė skirta suteikti Pasaulio bankui daugiau paskolų visų naudai. Tačiau būkite atsargūs: ne viskas, kas atrodo gražiai, yra vertinga. Ypač kinai patiria šią skausmingą politiškai motyvuoto skolinimo patirtį. Vakarai turi padaryti geriau. Taigi, prašau, daugiau nereikia dar vieno Šilko kelio.“ [1]

 

1. Teure China-Kopie. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online)Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Sep 10, 2023. Von Manfred Schäfers