Dead Money by Jakob Kerr

DEAD MONEY by Jakob Kerr is an exciting mystery set amongst the risks, potential corruption, and infighting which surround venture capital funding for innovation and technology firms. Kerr is an insider, having worked as a lawyer and communications executive in the tech industry, including nearly a decade at Airbnb after starting as one of its first employees. And he does a remarkable job of conveying the excesses of that business culture which sets the tone for Mackenzie Clyde, a young lawyer-turned-investigator for a key rainmaker named Roger Hammersmith. Hammersmith has invested billions in Journy (a transport firm with scooters, buggies and soon-to-come autonomous vehicles) whose CEO and founder is murdered. Eventually, the FBI gets involved and Mackenzie joins the investigative team. Current Journy employees, including key executives, are quickly suspect. Utilizing flashbacks to provide background and motivation, Kerr also weaves in organized international thuggery and numerous surprises. DEAD MONEY received starred reviews from Kirkus (“[this] twisty, propulsive debut explores Silicon Valley’s dark side through the eyes of a wily outsider heroine”) and Publishers Weekly (“Impressively unpredictable.”).

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten

GOING ZERO by Anthony McCarten, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, is definitely a suspenseful, action-packed story that could be translated to the big screen. Ten “zeroes” have been recruited with the goal of winning a large monetary prize if they stay hidden for a month from the CIA and the private industry counterparts at WorldShare/FUSION. Some of these “zeroes” are professionals in the surveillance field and others are more “regular” folk, including a librarian named Kaitlyn Day. This is an exciting and fun read, one where I became involved emotionally and wanted to root for the underdog and where some of the technology seemed scary, disturbing, and, of course, intrusive. Will Kaitlyn win three million dollars in prize money by evading capture?  Will Cy Baxter and his company gain bragging rights and millions more in government contracts? Will privacy activists manage to upend the entire experiment? Fair warning: I personally found the ending to be a bit flat, but GOING ZERO is an intriguing read overall. Booklist gave it a starred review: “the reader is never quite sure where the story will go next. … An outstanding thriller.” I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Marin Ireland, which was very well done, reinforcing why GOING ZERO was an Amazon Best Book of April 2023 and a recommended “pulse-pounding read” from The New York Times.  

As an aside, Marin Ireland has also narrated: Remarkably Bright Creatures, The Mighty Red by Erdrich (review coming soon), The Lincoln Highway, Beartown, and several more.

Devil in the Stack by Andrew Smith

DEVIL IN THE STACK by Andrew Smith is subtitled “Searching for the Soul of the New Machine.” This text received a starred review from both Booklist and Publishers Weekly, but I initially found it very difficult to read. The prologue discusses coding and shares some firsthand experiences but does little to scaffold content for the remainder of the text. The author’s intent and main argument were not outlined, although he did comment: “from certain angles, life could appear to be getting worse in eerie proportion to the amount of code streaming into it” and “the software being written by a remote community of coders was reshaping society more dramatically than any technology since the steam engine.” I read further and liked learning about resources like freeCodeCamp, but struggled to embrace Smith’s writing style, jumping from one, albeit interesting, interview or interaction with an expert to another. I think he was trying to tie loosely related ideas together, perhaps like Mary Roach, but her work is more accessible and more entertaining. The Times Literary Supplement review recently described DEVIL IN THE STACK as “dense, prickly and rewarding” – give it a try and decide for yourself. 

The Mind's Mirror by Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone

THE MIND'S MIRROR by Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone (The Chip and the Heart) is another collaboration between a pioneering roboticist who is director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and a professional science writer. Their newest book focuses on “Risk and Reward in the Age of AI.” As ever, these two authors are extremely optimistic about the new technology and divide their text into three main sections: Powers, Fundamentals, and Stewardship. Taking a “hands-on” approach, they offer advice like: “as you evaluate how AI can help your business, I'd suggest breaking down the various roles within your organization by task, then looking at whether AI can assist, augment, or automate those tasks.”  The authors also point to the value of “business bilinguals, [those] who understand both tasks and technology” like understanding the complex issues involved with medical coding and AI application. About halfway through the text they offer a section which reads a bit like a business school case with “a detailed set of guidelines and questions to consider as you think about putting AI into action.” Later, they do turn to potential concerns and link to an effort to provide policy briefs on the governance of AI. They also devote considerable space to less commonly cited challenges in three spheres: technical (such as training data, complexity, security, reliability, bias), societal (like privacy, intellectual property, controls, overreliance, misinformation), and economic (impact on jobs, the rate of adoption, and so forth). THE MIND'S MIRROR is a relatively accessible text which could prompt numerous discussions, whether for student researchers or business applications. The two-part appendix provides a brief history of artificial intelligence plus an overview of the infrastructure of AI, followed by suggestions for further reading and a bibliography of sources.  

Unit X by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff

UNIT X by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff explores “How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War.” In the past, it was the Pentagon which often funded private experimentation with technologies like nuclear power, lasers, and even early versions of the internet. But in the early twenty-first century, military technology was far behind available options (think GPS, drone application, facial recognition, etc.).  Acknowledgement of this situation led to the establishment of Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, DIUx, formed in 2015 and headquartered in Mountain View, California. Shah and Kirchhoff were two of the founders and hence provide an inside look at Unit X’s evolution. They chronicle the initial resistance from DoD as officials sought to protect relationships with traditional suppliers and appropriations from Congress. And then there was resistance within Silicon Valley, as when three thousand Google employees signed a letter arguing that the company “should not be in the business of war.” Readers will be fascinated by stories involving companies like Palantir, Anduril, Shield AI, Joby Aviation and venture capitalists as well as the authors’ insightful analysis of the culture clash between the military, clearly risk-adverse and bureaucratic, and tech innovators. The authors poignantly conclude: “the ultimate goal is not to win wars but to deter them. … Advocates of innovation must keep pressing despite the seemingly Sisyphean task of reform. Leadership must back them to the hilt.” An extensive Bibliography (about 15% of the book) and a helpful Index are included. Recent analyses of military tech “disruptors” and future trends are available online from sources such as RAND, McKinsey and Brookings.  UNIT X was longlisted for the Financial Times Best Book of the Year and reviewed further in publications like The Wall Street Journal and briefly in Foreign Affairs.

Other Rivers by Peter Hessler

OTHER RIVERS by Peter Hessler is subtitled “A Chinese Education.” Hessler is a staff writer at the New Yorker and has written several other award-winning travel texts. He has lived and worked in China over many years and this text describes the changes he sees given the roughly twenty years which have passed between his initial time in Beijing (2000 to 2007) and time in Chengdu (2019 to 2021). OTHER RIVERS offers an insightful perspective on the lives of many of Hessler’s former and current students and there is much here about what he learned while teaching, too. Hessler is particularly effective in evoking emotion, partly due to the excerpts of student writings which he includes. COVID was active during his second stint in China and Hessler explores and relates the Chinese societal response, detailing the activities and restrictions in Wuhan, even his correspondence with a pharmacist there. OTHER RIVERS received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.

The Skill Code by Beane & Code Dependent by Murgia

I am looking forward to virtually attending The Washington Post Futurist Summit on AI later this week. Here are another couple of new books related to that subject:

THE SKILL CODE by Matt Beane is subtitled “How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines” and it looks at the importance of what Beane calls the expert-novice bond, meaning that that we each achieved mastery by working with someone who knew more than we did. Beane conducts extensive observational field research as an ethnographer and in his role as an Assistant Professor in the Technology Management Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The first key insight he notes is “that the working relationship between experts and novices is a bundle of three C's that humans need to develop mastery: challenge, complexity, and connection.” He explains those and points to threats to each, arguing “if we don't put this knowledge [3C’s] to use right now, our species is in deep trouble.” Overall, this is really a text about training, teaching and educational psychology. He points to how we need to consciously make these new technologies part of the solution but not by inserting them between novices and experts. A captivating section is where he discusses “shadow learners” – people who take risks and step outside norms to embrace the 3 C’s. Beane writes about finding challenge (not unlike Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD)) and provides a checklist to know when you are facing healthy challenge. Beane then repeats those steps with respect to complexity and connection, stressing the importance of “building mutual respect and trust so that employees view a boss as an expert but also someone who cares.”  Like much of the rest of the book, this is solid advice on social emotional skills and applies to any industry, whether AI is involved or not. Added (9/8/24): The Wall Street Journal review:  "Digital transformation has made the workplace more efficient. It has also reduced opportunities for skill development and mentorship."

CODE DEPENDENT by Madhumita Murgia is subtitled “Living in the Shadow of AI” and in a rather angry manner Murgia stresses the need for individuals around the world to unite in the face of AI. She writes about the concept of data colonialism and points to how gig workers (e.g., those affiliated with Uber) are oppressed and manipulated by algorithms. That made me wonder about how did business management transform from a cooperative, albeit paternalistic, view to an all-knowing heartless controller? Is that accurate? Is it part of a continual cycle of exploitation and reform? Some of these points were raised several years ago in The End of Loyalty by Rick Wartzman. Murgia, an award-winning Indian-British journalist who is currently AI Editor at the Financial Times, argues that “by reflecting on the march of AI, we can start to address the imbalances in power, and move towards redress.” Her work draws on examples from around the world, having spoken to people living in Kenya, Britain, Argentina, Italy, and to refugees from Iraq and China. In sections labeled Your Livelihood, Your Body and Your Identity, she shares concerns about wage differentials, deepfakes, and facial recognition. A subsequent section on Your Health features a doctor in rural India who is able to use an app to help to quickly diagnosis TB and later to contribute to recalibrate it to distinguish between TB and COVID. After several other chapters, Murgia describes OpenAI and Chat GPT and the tendency to hallucinate based on training. A favorite part is the Epilogue where Murgia describes the work of the world’s major religions in contributing to developing some ethical standards for deploying AI. Endnotes and an Index comprise between ten and fifteen percent of the text. The Guardian called CODE DEPENDENT “highly readable and deeply important,” saying “the power of this book lies in the rich stories it tells of individuals ... Drawing on interviews from around the globe.” Those stories veer between deep pessimism and glimmers of optimism and offer unique perspective. Much to consider.  

Added from NPR: Pope to discuss AI at G7 meeting.