The ascent of AI

These days, unless you are a digital recluse or have been on a digital detox for a few years now, it is impossible to avoid Generative AI chatbots, image and video creators, and AI Agents in most parts of your life.

- PROSENJIT DATTA.

From children in school to CEOs in the corner suites of multinational giants, and from policymakers to healthcare professionals, everyone is exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) in multiple ways.

The world has become firmly divided into two camps. One side believes that AI will solve almost all our problems pretty soon. The other worries about the emerging dangers. Corporations and IT professionals worry about Al hallucination. Psychiatrists worry about rising incidents of AI psychosis. Some content creators worry about Al slop while others watch as Al trains on their creations to produce faster and better images and videos and stories.

But how did we reach this stage? You could ask ChatGPT or Claude or Perplexity or Gemini or any of the other Al tools you are using for your work or entertainment for the answer. Or you could read Toby Walsh’s The Shortest History of AI.

Mr Walsh, a professor of artificial intelligence in the University of New South Wales and chief scientist at its new AI institute, UNSW.ai, is one of the leading researchers in the subject. And he has put together a thoroughly entertaining volume.