AI Snake Oil: What artificial intelligence can do, and what it can't

📚 Join us for the second event of the Smart Thinking Book Club, where we meet in a pub and discuss a book that explores big ideas in popular science, tech, philosophy, psychology, and more!

🤖 The book for our second event will be AI Snake Oil by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor. It tells you everything you need to know about AI, and how to defend yourself against bogus AI claims and products.

NB. The free version of Meetup only allows for 10 guests, if it says it's over-subscribed then please sign up here: https://lu.ma/gxw6hqwv

​--------------------------
​
Book blurb:
​Confused about AI and worried about what it means for your future and the future of the world? You’re not alone. AI is everywhere—and few things are surrounded by so much hype, misinformation, and misunderstanding. In AI Snake Oil, computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor cut through the confusion to give you an essential understanding of how AI works and why it often doesn’t, where it might be useful or harmful, and when you should suspect that companies are using AI hype to sell AI snake oil—products that don’t work, and probably never will.
​
​While acknowledging the potential of some AI, such as ChatGPT, AI Snake Oil uncovers rampant misleading claims about the capabilities of AI and describes the serious harms AI is already causing in how it’s being built, marketed, and used in areas such as education, medicine, hiring, banking, insurance, and criminal justice. The book explains the crucial differences between types of AI, why organizations are falling for AI snake oil, why AI can’t fix social media, why AI isn’t an existential risk, and why we should be far more worried about what people will do with AI than about anything AI will do on its own. The book also warns of the dangers of a world where AI continues to be controlled by largely unaccountable big tech companies.
​
​By revealing AI’s limits and real risks, AI Snake Oil will help you make better decisions about whether and how to use AI at work and home.

​-------------------------

​💬 Bring your thoughts, your questions, and most importantly yourself!

🍻 Whether you’re an avid reader or just here for the company, everyone’s welcome to join in, share opinions, and enjoy a drink or two.

...And don't worry if you didn't manage to finish the book 😉