Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit

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In his final book, the late Henry Kissinger joins forces with two leading technologists to mount “a profound exploration” (Walter Isaacson) of the epochal challenges and opportunities presented by the revolution in Artificial Intelligence: a breakthrough that dramatically empowers people in all walks of life while also raising urgent questions about the future of humanity.

As it absorbs data, gains agency, and intermediates between humans and reality, AI (Artificial Intelligence) will help us to address enormous crises, from climate change to geopolitical conflicts to income inequality. It might well solve some of the greatest mysteries of our universe and elevate the human spirit to unimaginable heights. But it will also pose challenges on a scale and of an intensity that we have never seen—usurping our power of independent judgment and action, testing our relationship with the divine, and perhaps even spurring a new phase in human evolution.

The last book of elder statesman Henry Kissinger, written with technologists Craig Mundie and Eric Schmidt, Genesis charts a course between blind faith and unjustified fear as it outlines an effective strategy for navigating the age of AI.

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Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit

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Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798874832230
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	11/19/2024
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Henry A. Kissinger served as the 56th Secretary of State from September 1973 until January 1977. He also served as the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from January 1969 until November 1975. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and the Medal of Liberty in 1986. Until his passing in 2023, he was Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm.

Eric Schmidt is an accomplished technologist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. As Google’s Chief Executive Officer, he pioneered Google’s transformation from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. He served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman from 2001-2011, Executive Chairman from 2011-2018 and most recently as Technical Advisor from 2018-2020. Under his leadership Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation. Prior to his career at Google, Eric held leadership roles at Novell and Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Craig Mundie is President of Mundie & Associates, which counsels CEOs on strategic issues caused by rapidly evolving information technologies. These include corporate and technology strategies, techno-geopolitics, cybersecurity, and R&D management. At the end of 2014 Mundie retired after a twenty-two-year career at Microsoft. During his transition year he was the Senior Advisor to the CEO, before which he was Chief Research and Strategy Officer since 2007, where his responsibilities included oversight of Microsoft Research, Intellectual Property Strategy, Technology Policy, Trustworthy Computing, and various technology and product incubation activities. Mundie was appointed by President Clinton and subsequently served for Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama on the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. President Obama appointed him in 2009 to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Eric Schmidt is an accomplished technologist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. As Google’s Chief Executive Officer, he pioneered Google’s transformation from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. He served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman from 2001-2011, Executive Chairman from 2011-2018 and most recently as Technical Advisor from 2018-2020. Under his leadership Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation. Prior to his career at Google, Eric held leadership roles at Novell and Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Byron Wagner is an audiobook narrator and voiceover artist based in Los Angeles. He began his career in entertainment at age eight, performing as a magician and ventriloquist for children’s parties, then graduated to theater, radio, TV, and film. After living in the UK for several years, his continuing love of acting and reading have happily led him back to the other side of the studio glass, doing voice acting and narrating, directing, and producing audiobooks.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

09/02/2024
The late former secretary of state Kissinger and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who previously collaborated on 2021’s The Age of A.I., team up with technology consultant Craig Mundie for this warmed-over consideration of how AI might change the world. Their prognostication careens between the dystopian and utopian. On the one hand, they caution that countries might weaponize AI to sic supercharged computer viruses on their enemies’ digital infrastructure, and that humans’ inability to understand how AI reaches its conclusions might “catalyze a return to a premodern acceptance of unexplained authority.” On the other hand, the technology might raise living standards by devising cheap “synthetic substitutes” for in-demand physical resources like oil and gas, or extend lifespans by editing genomes. Unfortunately, the authors offer precious little in the way of evidence and lean heavily on speculation. For instance, their assertion that machines could one day achieve sentience is grounded only in their faith in the inevitability of technological progress. They give short shrift to AI’s well-documented limitations, and the policy recommendation to pursue AI development in a manner consistent with humanity’s “moral convictions” is a vague cop-out. This doesn’t add anything of significance to the conversation on AI. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"In Genesis, the Kissingerian imprint—that elegant mix of idealism and realism—is evident everywhere . . . Genesis is as much a philosophy book—drawing on all that is best in the Western tradition—as it is a book that grapples with a techno-scientific phenomenon. It raises tough, often disconcerting, sometimes harrowing questions . . . wise and deeply sane."—Wall Street Journal

“AI may be one of the greatest technological revolutions ever, and the biggest question is how humans will adapt. This important book offers one of the first real looks at the future now in front of us—a future of almost limitless possibility, along with very complex new challenges.”—Sam Altman

“A timely exploration of the relationship between artificial intelligence and knowledge, power, and politics, this book pushes us to think hard about the risk and potential AI holds for humanity.”—Bill Gates

“In the coming Age of Artificial Intelligence, what will be the role of humans? In the final years of his life, Henry Kissinger immersed himself in studying AI, and he coauthored this book with technologists Eric Schmidt and Craig Mundie. It is a profound exploration of how we can protect human dignity and values in an era of autonomous machines.”—Walter Isaacson

“Kissinger, Mundie and Schmidt provide the deepest reflections we yet have on the opportunities and challenges posed by the looming AI-shaped global system. Readers of their book will learn something profoundly important. Before we can even think about new policies regarding AI, we will need to develop new conceptions of human reason and humanity itself. This book was Henry Kissinger’s final work. It may well prove his most prophetic and important. It is profoundly important reading.”—Larry Summers

“The next great technological revolution — in artificial intelligence — is already happening. While much of the conversation is about what AI can do and where AI will go, this book brilliantly reframes the discussion. How will human beings relate to AI? How does this thrilling, terrifying new scientific explosion change our conception of what it means to be human. You would expect a profound book given the three authors involved — and you will get it.”—Fareed Zakaria

“The authors of Genesis raise profound questions that are best answered by placing intelligent tools and technologies in the hands of people, empowering them with real agency to be more confident, more capable, and more in control.”—Satya Nadella

“A must read for anyone trying to think seriously about the challenges posed by AI. Genesis captures what we know—and most importantly don’t know—about the dangers posed by the unconstrained advance of AI. Drawing on lessons learned in the nuclear age, Kissinger and his colleagues illuminate the murky path ahead.”—Graham Allison

“Kissinger, Schmidt, and Mundie have crafted a roadmap for navigating our near-future in which unimaginably powerful and ubiquitous AI systems have become autonomous. Their insights into the practical and philosophical implications of humanity's first encounter with a superior intelligence are sobering and inspiring, challenging us to rethink our relationship with technology and our place in the universe. Genesis is vital reading for anyone seeking to understand how AI will reshape our world and what it takes to remain human in the age of intelligent machines.”—Ian Bremmer

“What does AI mean for discovery? For truth? For security, prosperity and politics? In answering these questions, these three extraordinary thinkers are (characteristically) unafraid to tackle the biggest themes and most profound questions around the dominant technology of our times. Epic in scope, bracing in clarity and always rooted in deep experience, this is an essential read.”—Mustafa Suleyman

“Genesis is thought-provoking in the best way — a much needed exploration of AI’s implications for humanity’s progress and what makes us human. It is also a roadmap for how we can harness AI’s possibilities, address its challenges, and ultimately co-exist with intelligent machines in the age of AI.”—James Manyika

“Artificial intelligence boggles the mind, and we struggle to comprehend its promises and perils. In his final book, it is fitting that the master of Grand Strategy, Henry Kissinger, with his superb coauthors Eric Schmidt and Craig Mundie, have focused on this topic. Genesis is the book our world needs to read today.”—Arthur C. Brooks

“As we try to navigate a responsible path into the future of AI, this book establishes a hopeful framework for how we might coexist while maintaining what it means to be human. In his final work, Henry Kissinger, one of the most consequential thinkers of our time, partnered with Eric Schmidt and Craig Mundie, to help guide us into this unprecedented frontier, so that we might harmonize its growth and importance with the wisdom needed to ensure - that this time - technology will be used for the good of humankind. It is a must read for the decision makers – which is all of us.”—Condoleezza Rice

“A posthumous postscript on a hair-raising topic… From beyond the grave, Kissinger is pointing in the right direction.”—The Economist

From the Publisher

12/20/2024
As their follow-up to The Age of AI, the late former U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger (1923–2023) and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt join forces to write about artificial intelligence, this time with Craig Mundie, a former Microsoft executive. The authors set out to tackle large questions about what the future may look like as AI technology continues to develop. In the first part of the book, current AI technology is established as an unstoppable force that will soon be beyond most people's comprehension, but they don't support their claim with persuasive or scientific-based arguments. Throughout the rest of the book, the authors speculate about how AI may impact various aspects of human life is examined. The volume concludes with a framework for human-AI coexistence. VERDICT The authors assert that humans must immediately form a position to properly integrate AI into their lives, and they argue that humanity has no other option. Some readers, however, may find that the book never quite moves beyond the realm of hypothesis.—Nick D'Andrea

Library Journal

2024-10-11
Unsettling thoughts on AI from some big-league thinkers.
The book opens with a worshipful tribute to Kissinger, who died last year at age 100. He apparently thought deeply about this subject and “closely mentored” his two collaborators on the “diplomatic alignment of humans” in their relationship to AI. Kissinger was a prominent Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Eric Schmidt was the chairman and CEO of Google, and Mundie was a chief research and strategy officer for Microsoft. Recognized AI experts, the latter two work hard to avoid repeating themselves. Within the past decade, specialists who have spent their lives warning against comparing a computer to a human brain have changed their minds. AI engineers now agree that they are trying to build something modeled on and superior to the brain without fully understanding it. Human brains are limited by the size of the human skull, but AI can grow without limit. The average AI supercomputer is already 120 million times faster than the human brain. Unlike ordinary computers, its mapping of the world is not programmed but learned. Perhaps in a nod to Kissinger, the book delves heavily into the role of AI in government. Its value lies in its potentially perfect knowledge, but that is a two-edged sword. Faced with a machine that always makes the correct choice, humans and their leaders may object to surrendering their free will, but autocrats may perk up. Readers may scratch their heads at the authors’ conviction that AI builders assume their creation will lead to a golden age of abundance, eliminating poverty, inequality, and the necessity of work. A long section devoted to problems of a life devoted exclusively to leisure contains ingenious solutions, but it’s not a subject that provokes great controversy.
Astute if often oddball insights.

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