Ai For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) Paperback – 30 Mar. 2018

Best

I really liked the way this explodes the myths around AI - seperates out the myths and gives a clear definition of the main aspects of AI - and automation / deep learningIts clear that there is a lot of hype around this whole area - but this breaks it down into some digestible chunks ..The best bit in the book is the practical examples of what has actually been done - and by reading that you can see where the work is being done - and what AI actually meansI like the clear style of the book as well - as usual breaking it down it into little chunksLast point - the title made me smile - AI for Dummies (seems a contradiction ..)

This is a bit of an unusual For Dummies book. It is a bit harder going and more in depth than the normal books - more of a textbook than a guide for dummies. There seems to be a level of prior knowledge required to get the best out of it. That being said it is a very detailed and well written guide on the subject - just not one for dummies.If you need a really basic guide then look elsewhere - if you need a detailed overview then this could be for you.

Theory only, nothing practical.

A very nicely laid out book taking you a through a comprehensive history of AI from origins to applications and how the concepts of machine decision making, rules engines, statistical analysis and machine learning have evolved and lead to the current AI boom. It's slightly uneven in depth and tone which isn't surprising given the scale of the topic area, but very impressive none the less. Well worth a read.

I am usually put off buying the "...for Dummies" books due to the title.And this one is not for "Dummies" - and is really rather good.A well-written and intelligent history of AI and a review of its current incarnation and some views of the future.Read this along with the New Scientist's excellent "Machines that Think" and Hannah Fry's wonderful "Hello World" to get a decent feel for what AI is (and mostly, is NOT) going to do for us.At the moment there are several SMART (but not in my opinion, Intelligent) applications which are genuinely useful but are really very quick searches of huge amounts of data. These are not heading towards the mythical SkyNet, but will at some point remove a number of different types of jobs.

I don't think this book is one for dummies it being a little more detailed than many of the For Dummies books are. It goes into some of the history of AI, which I think is probably the best aspect of it. To learn a bit of the back story, to me, gave a good solid base to start from in the learning of the subject. It's clearly written and in a decent sized print, which is great for me, and that helped to make reading it a better experience for me. I was disappointed with it, however, because in so many sections of it there are URLs that send the reader to websites to learn more. I don't want to get a book then have to go to the internet to get the information. If I'm going to do that I might as well just go to the internet in the first place. I would've preferred to have had the information in the book. It would've helped the continuity of reading it. I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about AI. I think I'd tell them to look for something else. Saying that though I can't say I didn't enjoy reading it. It was fairly informative and interesting. I think there will be better out there though.

Working in an industry that is being transformed by automation and machine learning, I have something of a baseline understanding of AI. Having read the intriguing "Life 3.0" by Max Tegmark, I was hoping for a really simple introduction to key concepts that would in a gentle way, take me a little deeper into the subject. Sadly, I was a little disappointed by this book's attempts to help me.I've read plenty of "for dummies" and "for idiots" guides over the years, and found that they do a pretty good job of making the basics really clear, and then taking you a little bit deeper. Simple presentation, lots of icons and call out boxes work well for these books. This book doesn't really follow that format - it's pretty dense text much of the way through, with sub-headings and bullet points the most you can hope for. Every now and again a "remember" or "tip" icon pops up, along with a diagram, but these are few and far between.To give you an example of a typical paragraph, I I opened the book and found "such a representation (abstract rules derived fro real world facts) is possible because the learning algorithm has many internal parameters (consisting of vectors and matrices of values), which equate to the algorithm's memory for ideas that are suitable for its mapping activity that connects features to response classes"The book also refers out to lots of URLs in the text, which I found very annoying. I didn't want to have to go outside the book to complete my understanding. By all means use footnotes or an appendix, but don't fill the text with them! Many of these are totally unecessary too for example a paragraph talking about industrial hazards that refers out to an article on common workplace safety hazards in health and safety magazine. Not what I was wanting from a primer on AI.Overall, a fairly comprehensive book on AI, but not really an engaging or introductory read.