The Shortest History of AI

“Recommended by the Next Big Book Club”This enjoyable, wide-ranging, and compact survey explains where we began and where we now find ourselves. An entertaining and concise tour.” – Kirkus“One of the world’s brightest minds takes on one of the world’s biggest topics… . Delicious!” – Adam Spencer, author of Book of Numbers“This history of AI in six simple ideas is so informative and easy to digest. Essential reading!” – Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki“Toby Walsh’s elegant six-idea history of AI reminds usthat the future was a long time coming—and that thehardest problem in intelligence may still be the humanone… . It satisfies both curiosity and conscience.” – Financial Express“If your brain tends to seize up with fear or incomprehension at the mention of AI, this concise and entertaining history is for you.” – Sydney Morning Herald“The Shortest History of AI gives a cogent and often comical account of AI’s evolution from a once specialized technology to a now ubiquitous feature of daily life” – The Saturday Paper (Australia)

Toby Walsh is one of the world’s leading researchers in artificial intelligence. He is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales and chief scientist at its new AI institute, UNSW.ai. Walsh has been profiled by The New York Times and is the author of four previous books about AI for general readers, including Machines Behaving Badly and Faking It: Artificial Intelligence in a Human World. The winner of multiple prestigious awards, including the Humboldt Prize and the Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science, his X (formerly Twitter) account was voted in the top ten to follow to keep abreast of developments in AI.