AI for the Rest of Us: An Illustrated Introduction

In this user-friendly if lackluster guide to artificial intelligence, Sundaresan, a machine learning research scientist, explains the fundamentals behind such innovations as chatbots and self-driving cars. Side-stepping the high-level math and statistics used to create machine learning models, he uses simple diagrams to explain to lay readers how AI works. He begins by explaining the basics, such as K-means clustering (an algorithm used to group together similar data points), deep learning (a subset of machine learning that uses many layers of artificial neurons to solve complex problems), and gradient descent (a process by which models learn from their mistakes). He goes on to explain the real-world applications of AI, like how chatbots can hold conversations and how smartphones can recognize and classify images, and concludes with suggestions for how businesses can bring their own AI projects to life. Though he attempts to use humor to keep things light, his jokes fall flat, and his explanations of the technology’s pitfalls—like the environmental impacts of language learning models, which require significant amounts of energy to run—are brief and half-hearted. Still, this will appeal to beginners looking to better understand how AI works. Illus. (Oct.)