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These Strange New Minds: How AI Learned to Talk and What It Means

These Strange New Minds: How AI Learned to Talk and What It Means

by Christopher Summerfield

Viking ·2025 ·384 pages
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About This Book

An insider look at the Large Language Models (LLMs) that are revolutionizing our relationship to technology, exploring their surprising history, what they can and should do for us today, and where they will go in the future—from an AI pioneer and neuroscientist /b In this accessible, up-to-date, and authoritative examination of the world's most radical technology, neuroscientist and AI researcher Christopher Summerfield explores what it really takes to build a brain from scratch. We have entered a world in which disarmingly human-like chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Claude and Bard, appear to be able to talk and reason like us – and are beginning to transform everything we do. But can AI 'think', 'know' and 'understand'? What are its values? Whose biases is it perpetuating? Can it lie and if so, could we tell? Does their arrival threaten our very existence? These Strange New Minds charts the evolution of intelligent talking machines and provides us with the tools to understand how they work and how we can use them. Ultimately, armed with an understanding of AI's mysterious inner workings, we can begin to grapple with the existential question of our age: have we written ourselves out of history or is a technological utopia ahead?


Reviews

"Both a great introduction to artificial intelligence and a thought-provoking analysis of its capabilities and limitations ..."

Susan McClellan· Library Journal Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"By inquiring into the nature of knowledge and consciousness, Summerfield brings some welcome nuance and clarity to discussions of LLMs."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"A clear-minded, accessible examination of how AI systems work."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Weaving colorful anecdotes from history and pop culture into threads of philosophy, linguistics and computer science, [Summerfield] unspools how the latest models work by first explaining what didn't work along the way, and why."

Will Oremus· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Packed with fascinating insights ..."

James Denselow· The New York Journal of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"One of the most balanced and realistic assessments of the current state of AI technology ..."

John Keogh· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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