An eye-opening read. Prof. Fry examines AI/machine learning in a variety of fields (e.g. medicine, justice, art), highlighting positives and negatives of their use. Being a fan of hers, I had already heard quite a few of the stories, but the written format allows for more detail. Also interesting - it was her voice I heard in my head while reading.
Technology has advanced since this book was written in 2018, but I believe the conclusions remain valid. Any savings/enhancements due to these technologies likely come at a cost, and society needs to keep this in mind when judging their worth. Also, many of these advancements work best in conjunction with humans, not by replacing them. ( )

Enjoyable read. Good overview of how and where algorithms are used today.

Some of the examples of seem to portray algorithms as a solution where they're not really. e.g. detecting misdemeanors to reduce more serious crimes seems to really be detecting poor people and pushing them out of public spaces.

Wish there were some focus on social media and medical mis/dis-information, and racism. ( )

Great read! This caught my eye as it was passing through the library on its way to fill a patron’s hold. I think I had algorithms Sorry, Brittany.Not really. on my mind because of the class I’m taking this semester. I can’t say the cover or title is anything that would fill me with excitement—although once she explained the title, it made me smile and say, “Ohhh”—but for whatever reason, I placed a hold for myself.
From start to finish, I loved this book. It’s accessible for scientific/mathematical Muggles (among whom I humbly count myself), and it’s fascinating.
Fry has a giant brain. I started following her on Twitter while I was reading this, and I could not make heads or tails of the first tweet of hers I saw (except for the part that said “FFS”—I learned what that meant earlier this year). So I appreciated the fact that she wrote this book at a level I could follow and enjoy. Her many examples and sense of humor made the subject matter more interesting to me than it already was.
Each chapter discusses how algorithms are used in a specific area of our lives: medicine, cars, crime, justice, etc. The implications of how prevalent and trusted they can be is discussed in both positive and negative terms. It’s not a watch-out-the-computers-are-going-to-take-over-and-destroy-us kind of book, but she does take a hard look at what can go wrong with this technology.
It’s threaded throughout the book, but her conclusion is not based on a one-or-the-other mentality, like humans vs. technology. It’s more exploring an idea of the two complementing each other—“The algorithm and the human work together in partnership, exploiting each other’s strengths and embracing each other’s flaws.”
This was a fun book to read. I felt like I learned a lot, and it didn’t hurt one bit. ( )

This is a book about the details of how human has entered the age of data. The algorithms that run on data by finding patterns are being used everywhere and have been in use for more than 30 years which is well before the words 'Data' and 'Algorithm' became mainstream. In this book, the author gives brief history along with prospects of the use of data science in several departments. How big companies utilize them for their big profits. Computer and algorithms can be seen as impartial at the surface level but Hannah Fry clearly explains how the bias against marginal societies can creep into these algorithms and how we can become aware of it and the cautions we need to take. Most of the book seemed like the stories from the articles we have already read somewhere on the internet but the book goes a little bit deeper into these stories ranging from autonomous cars to curbing crime to making art with some fascinating examples. It can be seen as a little intro to the field of data science. The author gives both pros and cons, optimistic and pessimistic angles of different offshoots of algorithms, and finally leaves the judgment for the reader to give. ( )

*shrug* This was one of those "let's pick the most interesting book from the library bookshelf" choices and it was alright. She brought up some good examples (machine created Bach music and cleaning up the crime in NYC) .... but it just didn't resonate with me. I've seen these stories before.

For a book, like this to get a high rating from me ... the book would generate these spine tingling lightning strikes to my brain. This generated zero of those.

It's passable. ( )