Supremacy
Read and enjoyed Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the Race That Will Change the World by Parmy Olson. It tells the story of the development of LLMs and more generally generative AI through the rivalry between Sam Altman and OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis and Deepmind. This isn't a technical book and you won't find explanations about AI here.
Recurring themes are the relationship between AI and big tech, corporate governance structures that ensure safe and ethical AI, and the Faustian bargains and compromises that Altman and Hassabis make with Google and Microsoft. As the race between Altman and Hassabis heated up, they needed compute that only billions of dollars could buy. At which point things changed from 'solve intellgience and then solve everything else' to 'solve intelligence and then create value for shareholders.'
I found the book overly trusting of both Altman and Hassabis and their stated ideals. After all, it mentioned the case of Sam Bankman-Fried. After his convictons, he indicated that his beliefs in charity and altruism were exaggerated. However, on the whole I found it informative and genuinely exciting.
Tags: ai