Does Prediction Machines Predict Our AI Future? A Review

Abstract

Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence, by artificial intelligence (AI) experts, Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb, pulls no punches. AI is all about prediction—machines learning precisely what to do for us and to us. The learning is occurring at warp speed, as AI uses big data to pick our brains for what we know and what we like. The authors are partly infatuated and partly terrified by AI’s parasitic potential. Readers should read this chilling and insightful book, but they should do so with a bottle of scotch, ideally from one of Scotland’s ancient distilleries that has recently been fully automated. (JEL C45, C55, E26, M10, M20, O30)