Heartificial Intelligence

December 15, 2015
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly essential to our lives, a steady stream of books is expressing delight or dismay. In this thoughtful addition to the genre, Mashable and Guardian contributing editor Havens warns that we have ignored an essential feature of machine thinking: its ethics. In his previous book, Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking It Can Change the World (2014), the author explained how we might interact with the digital revolution to lead more fulfilling lives. This turns out to be difficult because we have little control over how today's intrusive technology gathers information and none whatsoever about how it is used--mostly to sell stuff or amuse us. In the first half of the book, Havens delivers a dystopian account of where we may be heading. While AI developers "keep saying, 'we need to make sure we understand the ethical issues around this technology, ' they nonetheless keep building systems they may not be able to control." Should a driverless car on a crowded road swerve to miss a child who has run in front even if it means killing the driver? In most cases, these are situations that designers do not consider or consider incompletely. In the second half, Havens explains how to fix this. If we don't understand our own ethics, we can't program them into machines. Since most of us do not have a solid grasp of ethics, the author concentrates on identifying them and includes ingenious self-help exercises that prompt readers to discover what they truly value and then improve their lives by acting on those values (hint: altruism is more fulfilling than making money). An astute philosophical meditation on a major problem facing designers of advanced computers.

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February 15, 2016

Mashable and Guardian contributor Havens (Hacking Happiness) writes about artificial intelligence and ethics in this mix of technology, sf, and self-help. He poses the hard questions: How do machines use personal data, and will robots replace--or even bring harm to--humans? The author uses personal experiences as well as interviews with emerging technology experts to attempt to answer these queries, but he adds to the narrative humor and dystopian scenarios, which keep it from becoming jargon-filled and appealing only to computer programmers. Havens posits that in order for humanity to thrive among sentient machines such as robot assistants and smart cars, humans must first be aware of their own ethics; well-being and values assessments are even provided for readers. VERDICT Fans of sf will appreciate the dystopian vignettes at the beginning of every chapter, and technologically savvy readers will relish the facts and projections it presents. The first-person perspective however, especially the use of "we," suggests everyone can learn something from this book. Technology is ubiquitous, and this work will have readers feeling somewhat fearful yet also hopeful about its advances.--Natalie Browning, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib., Richmond, VA

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