Top AI books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite AI books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of AI

Understanding the concepts of AI starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. If machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful - possibly beyond our control. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on humans than on the specie…

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The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies

In recent years, Google’s autonomous cars have logged thousands of miles on American highways and IBM’s Watson trounced the best human Jeopardy! players. Digital technologies―with hardware, software, and networks at their core―will in the near future diagnose diseases more accurately than doctors can, apply enormous data sets to transform retailing, and accomplish many tasks once considered un…

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AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future

AI 2041 by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan explores how artificial intelligence will shape the world in the next two decades. They present scenarios where AI could help solve some of our biggest problems, while also acknowledging the challenges and ethical implications of this technology.

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Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction

Artificial Intelligence Basics has arrived to equip you with a fundamental, timely grasp of AI and its impact. Author Tom Taulli provides an engaging, non-technical introduction to important concepts such as machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), robotics, and more.

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The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

"The Singularity Is Near" portrays what life will be like after this event? a human-machine civilization where our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality and where our intelligence becomes nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence.

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Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

“Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach” goes beyond the basics and delves into advanced topics in AI. It covers natural language processing, an area concerned with enabling computers to understand and generate human language. The book explores techniques for parsing, semantic analysis, and machine translation.

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Additional AI Reading

These books are not required for you to learn AI, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Human Compatible

Human Compatible by Stuart Russell is a thought-provoking read on the future of artificial intelligence. It delves into the risks that AI poses to our civilization, and proposes solutions for ensuring a safe and desirable outcome.

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Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans

Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans is a 2019 nonfiction book by Santa Fe Institute professor Melanie Mitchell. The book provides an overview of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and argues that people tend to overestimate the abilities of artificial intelligence.

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The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI

Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public.

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Life 3.0

"Life 3.0" by Max Tegmark is a thought-provoking exploration of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the future of humanity. You'll find yourself immersed in a journey through the realms of AI development, ethics, and future possibilities.

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On Intelligence

Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

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Artificial Intelligence for Humans

Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition and machine vision.

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Specializations and Deeper AI Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. AI is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

Artificial Intelligence By Example: Acquire Advanced AI, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning Design Skills, 2nd Edition

AI has the potential to replicate humans in every field. Artificial Intelligence By Example, Second Edition serves as a starting point for you to understand how AI is built, with the help of intriguing and exciting examples. This book will make you an adaptive thinker and help you apply concepts to real-world scenarios. Using some of the most interesting AI examples, right from computer progra…

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The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World

In the world's top research labs and universities, the race is on to invent the ultimate learning algorithm: one capable of discovering any knowledge from data, and doing anything we want, before we even ask. In The Master Algorithm, Pedro Domingos lifts the veil to give us a peek inside the learning machines that power Google, Amazon, and your smartphone. He assembles a blueprint for the futu…

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This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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