Artificial Intelligence: The Limits of the Possible

The book by an authoritative expert in computer technology is a call to common sense. Throughout her conscious life, Meredith Broussard has heard that technology will save the world, but today, while continuing to admire them and participate in their creation, she is not as optimistic about the future. The widespread enthusiasm for the use of computer technology, in her view, has already led to a huge number of underdeveloped solutions in the field of digital system design. Opposing tech chauvinism and social illusions about the saving role of technology, Broussard embarks on a journey through the computer world: risking her life, she gets behind the wheel of an experimental self-driving car; engages artificial intelligence to find out why students can't pass standardized tests; uses machine learning to calculate the survival probability of Titanic passengers; as a data journalist, she creates a program to detect fraud in funding candidates for the US presidency. Only by understanding the limits of computer technology, argues Broussard, can we manage them to make the world a better place.