Navigating the Perils and Promise of AI

BOOK REVIEW: THE MIND’S MIRROR: RISK AND REWARD IN THE AGE OF AI

By Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone / W.W. Norton         

Reviewed by: Lieutenant General Michael Groen, U.S.M.C (Ret.)

The Reviewer — Michael Groen retired from the United States Marine Corps after thirty-six years as an Intelligence Officer, Commander, the Joint Staff J2 and the former Director of the DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.  Through multiple combat assignments, Joint assignments and technology-focused assignments he gained a strong appreciation for the opportunities of transformational technology and the cultures that will be required to make them real.  He is a Cipher Brief expert.

REVIEW — In a sea of tech-centric tomes that trade away human consideration for digital enthusiasm comes The Mind’s Mirror.  If you are a thoughtful human interested in Artificial Intelligence and the transformation it represents, you will enjoy this book.  This uniquely approachable book could only come from a special partnership between Daniela Rus, one of the most accomplished MIT AI scientists, and a most accomplished communicator, Gregory Mone.  The partnership has produced a thoughtful and informative work that presents deep understanding of the emerging relationship between humans and machines.  The authors previously described the role of robotics and physical machines in their book, The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots.   In this book they take on the companion issue of the development of the artificial brains that will operate in both the informational and physical spaces.  It is all communicated in a clear and approachable fashion.  The book is not an instruction manual nor a dissertation on the artifacts of AI application or integration.  Instead, this thoughtful and approachable book starts with the human mind and describes how partnerships with machine intelligence will create greater power than either humans or machines executing alone.  It is a conversation about how human ideas can be curated and expanded through the application of technology, not as a replacement, but as a partnership.  Through example and approachable explanations, The Mind’s Mirror builds understanding of the ‘how’ of various AI technologies and describes a wave of use-cases that are already effectively employing AI.  While learning more about the operations of AI, this reader also came away with a better sense for what the roles of humans will be in relationships that build understanding by, “melding cold calculation with warm comprehension.”  There is space here to understand the essential nature of human empathy in partnership with machines.  The book describes in thoughtful detail how the virtues of speed, knowledge, insight, creativity, foresight, mastery, and empathy are enabled and accelerated through partnerships between human minds and machines.  Plain language explanations and examples are distributed throughout.  The Mind’s Mirror sets the stage for real consideration of how true Human-Machine Teams will be constituted and executed.        


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 Shelves are full of ‘quick win’ publications with facile explanations that fail to capture the transformational aspects of AI and the partnerships that successful application requires.  The authors present a ‘Business Interlude’ that expands the thoughtful analysis with deep insights into implementation across almost any industry.  It provides insights into ‘how to think about’ AI application across your workflows or industry.  The book makes clear that this transformation is not simply about adoption of technology.  This set of technologies presents opportunities for thoughtful human analysis that guides use-cases to successful outcomes.  Indeed, the role of process owners in the derivation of clear objectives, making value judgments, evaluating stakeholder interest and building successful implementation teams are essential.  The ‘Business Interlude’ connects thoughtful consideration of what AI can bring to decision-making with a practical guide for building the structures for success.


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The third major section of the book opens the door to contemporary conversations about what the authors term, the “Dark side of superpowers.”  These are the unintended consequences and potential risks inherent in building AI capabilities and architectures.  ‘Stewardship’ is a key concept the authors present to capture the challenges of deepfakes, untrue narratives, data biasing, personal data violations, hacking and a host of other challenges that accompany the introduction of a technology that also has great opportunity for good.  The demands of stewardship are very high in the construction of machine outputs that may impact individuals, brands, societies, individual rights and even life-or-death medical diagnoses.  However, in many discussions of AI, the risks of small business applications or commonly used Apps are painted with the same brush as autonomous weapons or fictional ‘killer robots’, leaving a stain of ‘dangerous AI’ that deters consumers from true understanding where risk lies.  An extensive list of potential negative outcomes of AI is articulated, but I found many of these to be very speculative, or likely to be managed effectively by a rapidly maturing AI ecosystem.  Over time, speculative risks will likely be balanced by consideration of informed consumers and responsible organizations that employ these machines.  Already, a rising body of legal constructs in this marketplace have produced a flurry of proposed AI regulations.  The authors do make strong and effective arguments for greater knowledge of AI systems among business leaders, thought leaders, medical professionals, researchers, regulators and others who have significant responsibilities or equities in the success or failure of AI capabilities.  Perhaps this is the most important point.  It is not only coders and computer scientists that bear the burden of responsibility, but every business, organization, or government that employs this powerful technology.                

The authors close on a note that humans will find comforting. Human efforts to guide the evolution of AI are as much about self-discovery as they are about technological innovation.  Humans remain insightful, creative and moral characters.  With all the transformational change afoot, maybe machines can teach us what it really means to be human.        

The Mind’s Mirror earns an impressive 3.5 out of 4 trench coats

3.5

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