By Ksenia Kurenysheva
Written by Dr Matt Agnew, Is my phone reading my mind? poses profound questions about the ethics of artificial intelligence, and successfully explains this complicated topic in an easy-to-read book designed for young children and teenagers. A renowned astrophysics and AI scientist, Dr Agnew wrote this book to help young minds understand the swiftly evolving world of AI.
The book contains valuable information (and nicely designed graphics/images) concerning current ethicalities around artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the book’s cohesive layout, colour scheme and unique features (including various text sizes, fonts, colours, ‘fun bubbles’ and ‘brain boxes’) proved to be eye-catching and informative throughout the read.
The book consists of two parts: breaking down artificial intelligence and ethics, and the impact that AI has on the community. Within each of these parts, Dr Agnew delves into the key questions regarding the topic, explaining the measurement of intelligence, the meaning of the word artificial, algorithms, consciousness, machine learning and even some mathematical concepts.
Not only this, but various examples of the previous topics would be frequently explained throughout the book, aiding the reader in understanding how artificial intelligence truly links to the real world. Some of these examples weren’t made up either, rather, were real stories of animals, robots and machinery depicting the level of intelligence and consciousness that they were able to possess.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the abundance of information that was spread out equally over the course of the reading journey. Plus, it took me around two hours to read: perfect to keep anyone occupied.
Overall, Dr Matt Agnew’s book was an awesome read, tackling many important questions, and throughout the journey successfully tackles the question: Is my phone reading my mind? But you’ll have to read the book for the answer.
