The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future: The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate AI insider Paperback – 3 Oct. 2024

The Coming Wave is a fascinating and thought-provoking look at the rapid rise of powerful technologies like AI and synthetic biology. Mustafa Suleyman, with his deep experience in tech, explains how these tools are developing faster than our ability to control them—and why that matters for everyone.What I loved most is how the book strikes a balance between excitement and caution. It’s not fearmongering, but it makes a strong case for why we need to act now to make sure these technologies serve humanity, not the other way around. His idea of the “containment problem” really sticks with you—it’s all about how we manage these world-changing tools before they manage us.This is a smart, accessible read that blends tech, ethics, and policy in a way that feels urgent but hopeful.

Dense read with lots of stimulating ideas on the potential impact of AI. Edition now likely to be overtaken (unless updated) by developments (e.g. in Agentic AI). Good primer, nonetheless.

Everyone should read this book! AI is here to stay and it is absolutely critical that we understand where it is coming from and what the (near) future holds in store. The Coming Wave is very well documented, extremely informative and profoundly thought-provoking (disturbingly so at times). And it's also beautifully written, so it's a joy to read. I abolutely recommend it.

Written by the founder of Deep Mind, you have to take note of this perspective. However, as a layperson, it’s a bit dry, and a bit repetitive. I feel better informed on a strategic level, but this is not an entertaining, page-turning read, in fact it becomes a bit of a grind.

The book is of exceptional merit, fascinating and awe-inspiring in equal measure. Two modern technologies, in particular artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology pose immense threats and their containment is compelling albeit virtually impossible to achieve.Until recently, the history of technology could be encapsulated in a single phrase: humanity's quest to manipulate atoms. From fire to stone tools, Agriculture to the Industrial Revolution, to internal combustion engine, electricity to aviation, an unfolding process in which our species has slowly extended its control over atoms.Then, starting in the mid-twentieth century, technology began to operate at a higher level of abstraction. At the heart of this shift was the realization that information is a core property of the universe. It can be encoded in a binary format and is, in the form of DNA, at the core of how life operates. First bits and then increasingly genes supplanted atoms as the building blocks of invention.The coming wave of technology is built primarily on two general- purpose technologies capable of operating at the grandest and most granular levels alike: AI and synthetic biology. In other words, technology is undergoing a phase transition. No longer a tool, it is going to engineer life and rival - and surpass - our own intelligence. AI is enabling us to replicate speech and language, vision, and reasoning. Foundational breakthroughs in synthetic biology have enabled us to sequence, modify, and now print DNA.The coming wave is characterized by a set of four intrinsic features compounding the problem of containment (containment is the overarching ability to control, limit, and, if need be, close down technologies at any stage of their development or deployment. It means, in some circumstances, the ability to stop a technology from proliferating in the first place, checking the ripple of unintended consequences). First among them is a hugely 'asymmetric' impact. New technologies create previously unthinkable vulnerabilities and pressure points against seemingly dominant powers. Second, they are developing fast, a kind of 'hyper-evolution', iterating, improving, and breaking into new areas with incredible speed. Third, they are often (omni-use); that is they can be used for many different purposes. And, fourth, they increasingly have a degree of (autonomy) beyond any previous technology.In order to have a chance of containing the coming technological wave, the author suggests a set of interlinked and mutually reinforcing of technical, cultural, legal, and political mechanisms for maintaining control of technology during a period of exponential change; an architecture to the task of containing what would have once been centuries or millennia of technological change, happening now in a matter of years or even months, where consequences ricochet around the world in seconds.Finally, we have to realize that safety in the context of the coming wave is not somewhere we arrive but something that must be continually and proactively enacted. Containment is not a resting place. It is a narrow and never ending path.

Very good but not as good as Tie Stories by Tom H.H. Kelly.

A big-picture, bold look at the technologies reshaping our world - especially AI and synthetic biology. It’s a bit of a heavier read, but packed with vision, caution, and urgency.

This is a must-read. Written by an expert but not technical; It describes what AI can and will do and also deals with the risks. We are on the brink of a second industrial revolution. Its effects are already being seen. Desk jobs will go. Politicians and anyone involved in industry or commerce should read this book.In a long life and having read many books, this is one of the most important and among the best.