Support Us
Five Books
 
Search
MENUMENU
  • Nonfiction
        • Art
          • Architecture
          • Art History
          • Design & Illustration
          • Fashion & Style
          • Modern and Contemporary Art
          • Photography
        • Business Books
          • How to Invest
          • Leadership
          • Marketing
        • Economics Books
          • Behavioural Economics
          • Development Economics
          • Economic History
          • Finance
          • Financial Crisis
          • Globalization Books
          • World Economies
        • Environmental Books
          • Climate Change Books
          • Environmental Ethics
        • Food & Cooking
          • The Best Cookbooks
          • Food & History of Food
          • Wine & Drinks
        • Health & Lifestyle
          • Death & Dying
          • Education
          • Family & Relationships
          • Happiness
          • Sex & Sexuality
        • History Books
          • American History
          • Ancient History (up to 500)
          • Modern History (1800-1945)
          • History of Science
          • Historical Figures
          • Military History
        • Language
          • English Grammar & Usage
          • Books for Learning Languages
          • Linguistics
        • Law
        • Literary Nonfiction
          • Best Biographies
          • Essays
          • Memoir
          • Artists' Biographies
          • Travel
          • True Crime
        • Music & Drama
          • Classical Music & Opera
          • Film & Cinema
          • Music
          • Theatre
        • Nature
          • The Prehistoric World
          • The Earth
          • Plants, Trees & Flowers
        • Philosophy Books
          • Ancient Philosophy
          • Ethics & Moral Philosophy
          • Great Philosophers
          • Social & Political Philosophy
        • Politics & Society
          • War
          • Feminism
          • Foreign Policy & International Relations
          • Human Rights
          • Terrorism
        • Psychology
          • Mental Health
          • Neuroscience
          • Psychoanalysis
          • Psychology Research
          • Self Help
        • Religion
          • Best Atheist Books
          • Buddhism
          • Christian
          • Islamic
          • Jewish
          • Religious History Books
        • Science
          • Astronomy
          • Biology
          • Chemistry
          • Geoscience
          • Maths & Statistics
          • Popular Science
          • Physics Books
        • Sports, Games & Hobbies
          • Football (Soccer)
          • Gardening
          • Hobbies
          • Sport & Sporting Culture
        • Technology
          • Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
          • Computing
          • Digital Age
          • History of Technology
          • Internet
  • Fiction & Literature
        • Classic English Literature
        • American Literature
        • World Literature
        • Literary Criticism
        • Literary Figures
        • Classical Studies
        • Contemporary Fiction
          • NEW Fiction
        • Poetry
        • Memoir
        • Comics & Graphic Novels
        • Fairy Tales & Mythology
        • Historical Fiction
        • Horror
        • Humour
        • Crime Novels
        • Science Fiction
        • Short Stories
        • Romance
        • Thrillers
        • Mystery
        • Fantasy
  • World
        • Africa
          • Egypt
          • Ghana
          • Nigeria
          • Rwanda
          • South Africa
          • Zimbabwe
        • Americas
          • Latin America
            • Argentina
            • Brazil
            • Caribbean
            • Chile
            • Cuba
            • Mexico
          • United States
          • Canada
        • Arctic & Antarctica
        • Asia
          • Afghanistan
          • Bangladesh
          • Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
          • China
          • India
          • Japan
          • Kazakhstan
          • Korea
          • Pakistan
          • Sri Lanka
          • Singapore
          • Vietnam
        • Australia
        • Europe
          • Azerbaijan
          • Belgium
          • Britain
          • France
          • Georgia
          • Germany
          • Greece
          • Ireland
          • Italy
          • Netherlands
          • Norway
          • Russia
          • Spain
          • Ukraine
        • Middle East
          • Iran
          • Iraq
          • Israel
          • Syria
          • Turkey
          • Yemen
  • Kids
        • Kids Recommend Books for Kids
        • High School Teachers Recommendations
        • Ages Baby-2
        • Ages 3-5
        • Ages 6-8
        • Ages 9-12
        • Books for Teens and Young Adults
        • Best Kids Books of 2023
        • Best Books for Teens of 2023
        • Best Audiobooks for Kids
        • Prizewinning Kids' Books
        • Popular Series Books for Kids
        • History
        • Economics
        • Environment
        • Family
        • Science
        • Mental Health
  • Best Books 2023
        • Audiobooks
        • Best Books for Teens of 2023
        • Best Kids' Books of 2023
        • Best Nonfiction of 2023
          • Biography
          • Science
          • Politics
          • Food
          • Travel
        • Best Fiction of 2023
          • Historical Fiction
          • Fantasy
          • Science Fiction
          • Mystery
          • Political Novels
          • Romance
  • New Books
        • New Science Books
        • New Climate Books
        • New Psychology Books
        • New Philosophy Books
        • New Math Books
        • New Economics Books
        • New History Books
        • New Physics Books
        • New Memoirs
        • New Biography
        • New Fiction
        • New World Literature
        • New Historical Fiction
  • Audiobooks
    • Actors Read Great Books
    • Best Audiobooks for Kids
    • Books Narrated by Their Authors
    • Best Audiobook Thrillers
    • Best History Audiobooks
  • Book Awards
    • Nobel Literature Prize
    • Booker Prize
    • Baillie Gifford Prize
    • Royal Society (science)
    • Wolfson Prize (history)
    • Walter Scott Prize
    • Arthur C Clarke Prize
    • Pushkin House Prize
    • Audie Awards
  • Experts

Technology » Artificial Intelligence/AI Books

Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell
Buy now Listen now

Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control

by Stuart Russell

***🏆  A Five Books Book of the Year ***

Recommendations from our site

“There’s a whole clutch of AI books…People want to understand what’s going on. Human Compatible is a really clearly written one. It explains enough about how AI works, but also what some of the challenges are. The particular challenge the book focuses on is how to program AI systems so they do what we really want them to do, rather than just what we write down in the code that they then implement. It’s actually very difficult. Think about the effects of setting targets for public services, and how easily they got gamed. When you give a hospital a minimum amount of time before they admit people, they will do things like park patients in the waiting room or on trolleys so that the clock doesn’t start ticking too quickly. Or if you give an ambulance service a certain amount of time to get to patients, they will game it so they get there in time to meet their targets. It’s the same with AI. If you set them an explicit objective—which you have to do because how else are you going to get them to do something—how do you stop them gaming things in that way and delivering something that you don’t really want?” Read more...

The Best Economics Books of 2019

Diane Coyle, Economist

Other books by Stuart Russell

Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Peter Norvig & Stuart Russell

Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
by Peter Norvig & Stuart Russell

Our most recommended books

  • The Singularity Is Near
    by Ray Kurzweil

  • Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
    by Nick Bostrom

  • Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
    by Cathy O'Neil

  • Design Thinking: Understanding How Designers Think and Work
    by Nigel Cross

  • Glut
    by Alex Wright


  • Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong
    by Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen

Support Five Books

Five Books interviews are expensive to produce, please support us by donating a small amount.

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

Newsletter Contact us Privacy Policy Terms of Service Mastodon Social

© Five Books 2023

Get our newsletter