Dear readers, At the risk of sounding like a single-issue reader, I’d like to devote today’s newsletter to two recent books about artificial intelligence that I believe merit your attention. It’s no secret that the publishing industry is grappling with the arrival of A.I. and its implications for the future of writing. But several readers have recently reached out, seeking books about A.I., and while this newsletter may not be an entirely democratic endeavor I’d be remiss to ignore my constituents. This week our critic Jennifer Szalai reviewed “Prophecy,” by Carissa Véliz. I was thoroughly engrossed by this book, which frames A.I. as yet another way humans have tried to predict the future. Véliz, a philosopher at Oxford, situates the technology in a long lineage of soothsayers, from Greek priestesses at Delphi on forward, and she doesn’t mince words: “Putting ourselves in the hands of prophets perversely makes us more unsafe and less free.” It’s to her credit that Véliz’s narrative connects the dots from craven ancient political advisers to modern-day credit scores while offering a fresh perspective on the topic of the moment. Another book, Katrina Manson’s “Project Maven,” shattered any of my naïve illusions that A.I. applications in military interventions were a far-off hypothetical. As Manson shows, many weapons currently in use are controlled largely by A.I. until the moment of the actual kill. These uses, she writes, raise “the biggest moral and practical question there is: Who — or what — gets to decide to take a human life? And who bears that cost?” A heavy note on which to enter the weekend, but a worthwhile one. See you next time. Like this email? We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
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