You Look Like a Thing and I Love You

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place is a 2019 nonfiction book by optics research scientist Janelle Shane. The book documents experiences the author and others have had with machine learning programs, and discusses what "intelligence" means in the context of "artificial intelligence" (AI).[1]

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You
AuthorJanelle Shane
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenrePopular science
PublisherLittle, Brown
Publication date
5 November 2019
Pages272 pp
ISBN978-0316525244

Overview

The main title of the book refers to a phrase generated as a pickup line by a neural net that Shane trained on pickup lines gathered from the Internet.[2]

Shane discusses the dangers of "artificial stupidity" (not phrased as such), describing for example a 2016 crash at a city street intersection, which Shane attributes in part to Tesla Autopilot being trained for highway use and therefore failing to properly perceive a blocking flatbed truck from a side view. Shane provides "Five Principles of AI Weirdness", including "AIs don't understand the problems you want them to solve" and "AIs take the path of least resistance to their programmed goal".[1] Shane gives many examples of AI "shortcuts", including the (possibly apocryphal) legend of an AI that appeared to reliably recognize tanks from photos, by noticing whether the photos were taken on a sunny or a cloudy day. Another of Shane's examples is a hypothetical scenario where a simulated AI evolved to keep people from entering a hazardous hallway during a fire emergency, learns the optimal strategy is to just kill everyone so they cannot enter the hallway. Because AI lacks general intelligence, Shane is skeptical of efforts to power self-driving cars or to detect online hate speech using artificial intelligence. Shane also pushes back against concerns artificial intelligence will replace people's jobs.[3]

Reception

A reviewer in the Christian Science Monitor found the book "eye-opening" and "fun", stating "I found this book comforting: Shane makes a convincing case that AI isn't going to be stealing jobs in the near future."[1] A review in ZDNet called the book "approachable" and "insightful".[3] A capsule review in the Philadelphia Inquirer called Shane a "great guide",[4] and a capsule review in Publishers Weekly called the book an "accessible primer" with "charming" and "often-hilarious" content.[5] A reviewer in E&T judged the book "stands out for Shane's madcap sense of humour and affection for the subject".[6] In The Verge, a December 2019 list of "the 11 best new sci-fi books" included Shane's book, stating "Science fact, rather than science fiction, (the book is) incredibly informative".[7] A similar list in Ars Technica praised that "anybody, not just the engineer-minded or the tech-savvy, can understand the often abstract concepts she details."[8] The book also made Scientific American's list of "Recommended Books" for November 2019.[9]

See also

References
  1. O'Kelly, Kevin (7 April 2020). "Artificial Intelligence still has a long way to go". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  2. Fessenden, Marissa (2017). "This Artificial Neural Network Generates Absurd Pickup Lines". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  3. Grossman, Wendy M. (2019). "You Look Like a Thing and I Love You, book review: The weird side of AI". ZDNet. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  4. Timpane, John (2019). "Fall 2019′s biggest books include new titles from Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Stephen King, and Ann Patchett". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  5. Scheier, Liz (2019). "'Alexa, Balance My Portfolio': Business and Personal Finance Books 2019". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  6. Lamb, Hilary (12 December 2019). "Book review: 'You Look Like a Thing and I Love You' by Janelle Shane". eandt.theiet.org. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  7. Gartenberg, Chaim (29 December 2019). "The 11 best new sci-fi books to check out on your new Kindle". The Verge. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  8. Palladino, Valentina (1 September 2019). "Ars To-Be-Read: Space operas, platypus papers, and more books to read this fall". Ars Technica. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  9. Gawrylewski, Andrea (2019). "Recommended Books, November 2019". Scientific American. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
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