What You Need to Know About AI: A Beginner’s Guide to What the Future Holds

AI is very much in the news and the public eye. But what actually is it?  

AI – software that learns by example – has had some negative uses. But it also has some incredibly exciting and inspiring possibilities, such as helping scientists change the way they study oceans, supporting sports teams to scout players from further afield, and working to make sentient homes become far more energy efficient, thus helping to address climate change. 

In this clear and fascinating book, Professor Johnson – a Futurist and AI expert – explains the history of the computer before considering what makes AI different from normal software. Then he takes the reader through chapters about AI in space, in creativity, in video games, in the home, in robots and drones, in sport, in studying nature and medicine, and in a stack of other fascinating areas too.

The book also includes features such as Ask the Expert, where Professor Johnson asks leading lights in AI, robotics and technology to explain particular ideas.

This detailed and exciting breakdown of where we are with AI now – and the possibilities of where it might go – is a must-read for Year 6 to Year 8 aged children.