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The cover of AI Superpowers

AI Superpowers

Kai Fu Lee, 2018

How China became an AI superpower, why implementation now beats invention, and what the coming wave of job losses means for human purpose.

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8 parts, about 22 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that AI has moved from discovery to implementation, where data, gritty entrepreneurs and state support favour China
  • Replaces robot overlord fears with a sharper worry, job loss and inequality, and sketches paid care and service work as a response
  • Written by an insider who worked in both countries and ties the analysis to his own cancer diagnosis

Who it is for

  • Tech workers watching the US and China AI contest
  • Policy makers weighing basic income against other answers
  • Workers wondering which jobs AI will reach

What the summary covers

  1. China's Sputnik Moment2 min
  2. Copycats, Gladiators, and an Alternate Internet3 min
  3. A Tale of Two Countries3 min
  4. The Four Waves of AI3 min
  5. Utopia, Dystopia, and the Real Crisis4 min
  6. The Wisdom of Cancer2 min
  7. A Blueprint for Coexistence3 min
  8. Writing Our AI Story2 min

Recommended by

  • Satya NadellaCEO, Microsoft
    Kai-Fu Lee's smart analysis on human-AI coexistence is clear-eyed and a must-read. We must look deep within ourselves for the values and wisdom to guide AI's development.
  • Tim O'ReillyFounder, O'Reilly Media
    If you care about the future being brought to us by AI, this is the one indispensable book of 2018.
  • Erik BrynjolfssonProfessor at MIT, co author of The Second Machine Age
    AI is surpassing human intelligence in more and more domains, transforming the planet. Kai-Fu Lee has been at the epicenter of the AI revolution for 30 years and has now written the definitive guide.
  • Yann LeCunDirector, Facebook Research
    Few people have had Kai-Fu Lee's diverse experience in AI. His experience has made him a sort of oracle when it comes to trends in AI-related technology in Asia and the rest of the world. This book tells the story.
  • Arianna HuffingtonFounder of HuffPost and Thrive Global
    Kai-Fu Lee's experience as an AI pioneer, top investor, and cancer survivor has led to this brilliant book about global technology. AI Superpowers gives us a guide to a future that celebrates all the benefits that AI will bring, while cultivating what is unique about our humanity.
  • George ShultzFormer U.S. Secretary of State
    AI is already presenting new economic opportunities – and new problems of governance – for the United States and China. To deal with this breakthrough, we first must understand how it is being applied to transform our lives and our economies. AI Superpowers is a superb primer on this important driver of change.

About the author

  • Kai Fu LeeFounder of venture firm Sinovation Ventures and 01.AI, former president of Google China
    • Born in Taipei, Taiwan, on 3 December 1961
    • Moved to the United States in 1973
    • Computer science degree from Columbia University in 1983
    • PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, 1988
    • Joined Apple in 1990 as a principal research scientist
    • Moved to Beijing in 1998 and helped establish Microsoft Research there
    • Named to TIME's 2023 list of the 100 most influential people in AI

Read it alongside

  • Pushes backSuperintelligence

    Kai Fu Lee argues there is no known route to superhuman AI, that it is likely decades or centuries away, and that the real crisis is jobs; Nick Bostrom argues a breakthrough seems somewhat likely this century and that setting superintelligence aside for now is the weaker view.

  • Goes deeperGenius Makers

    Kai Fu Lee argues that AI has moved from an age of discovery to one of implementation, while Cade Metz tells how neural networks were sidelined for years before data, graphics chips and a 2012 ImageNet win.

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