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.

The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence

What happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our societies? Drawing on more than a decade of research, award‑winning scholar Kate Crawford reveals how AI is a technology of extraction: from the minerals drawn from the earth to the labor pulled from low-wage information workers to the data taken …

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Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI

Something new entered our world in November 2022 — the first general purpose AI that could pass for a human and do the kinds of creative, innovative work that only humans could do previously. Wharton professor Ethan Mollick immediately understood what ChatGPT meant: after millions of years on our own, humans had developed a kind of co-intelligence that could augment, or even replace, human thi…

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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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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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Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile

A historical study of Chile's twin experiments with cybernetics and socialism, and what they tell us about the relationship of technology and politics. In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological.

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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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Additional AI Reading

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

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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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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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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The Alignment Problem

The alignment problem describes the problems associated with building powerful artificial intelligence systems that are aligned with their operators. The concept was popularised by Brian Christian in his book The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values

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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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Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Global Edition

Thelong-anticipated revision of ArtificialIntelligence: A Modern Approach explores the full breadth and depth of the field of artificialintelligence (AI). The 4th Edition brings readers up to date on the latest technologies,presents concepts in a more unified manner, and offers new or expanded coverageof machine learning, deep learning, transfer learning, multi agent systems,robotics, natural …

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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.

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

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Ayan Sengupta is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of MyImmune, a disruptive company leveraging Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize the field of liquid biopsy for enhanced precision in medical diagnostics. Previously, he was an AI Lead Engineer in a startup in Tokyo that works at building cutting edge LLM …

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I help you 1. Implement processes to deploy stress-free several times per day (without heroics) 2. Bring your team together by collaborative pairing and release planning 3. Grow highly capable, happy engineers who don't shy away from working with legacy code I coach leaders managing product engineering teams in engineering …

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Who am I? I have 12 years hands-on expertise in building and managing innovative fintech and AI solutions. Currently, at Mastercard I'm a Technical co-founder of a portfolio of six fintech products, driving their end-to-end lifecycle from ideation to global market launch. Currently leading six teams totalling 110 team members. …

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As a top mentor with a proven playbook, I’ve helped countless professionals worldwide pivot careers, secure promotions, and rediscover their direction, all backed by 5/5 feedback from over 20 mentees. I'm committed to providing the tools needed to find that next job and providing ways of accountability. Some of our …

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With 10+ years of experience in private equity, investment banking, and equity research, I help finance professionals and aspiring leaders advance their careers. Currently a Vice President at a fintech-focused private equity firm, I specialize in early-stage and growth investing, particularly in financial services like lending, insurance, payments, and asset …

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