An expert offers a guide to where we should use artificial intelligence-and where we should not.Before we know it, artificial intelligence (AI) will work its way into every corner of our lives, making decisions about, with, and for us. Is this a good thing? There's a tendency to think that machines can be more "objective" than humans-can make better decisions about job applicants, for example, or risk assessments. In Awkward Intelligence, AI expert Katharina Zweig offers readers the inside story, explaining how many levers computer and data scientists must pull for AI's supposedly objective decision making. She presents the good and the bad: AI is good at processing vast quantities of data that humans cannot-but it's bad at making judgments about people. AI is accurate at sifting through billions of websites to offer up the best results for our search queries and it has beaten reigning champions in games of chess and Go. But, drawing on her own research, Zweig shows how inaccurate AI is, for example, at predicting whether someone with a previous conviction will become a repeat offender. It's no better than simple guesswork, and yet it's used to determine people's futures. Zweig introduces readers to the basics of AI and presents a toolkit for designing AI systems. She explains algorithms, big data, and computer intelligence, and how they relate to one another. Finally, she explores the ethics of AI and how we can shape the process. With Awkward Intelligence. Zweig equips us to confront the biggest question concerning AI: where we should use it-and where we should not.

Preface ixPART I The Toolkit 11 Robo-Judges...with Poor Judgment 32 The Fact Factories of the Natural Sciences 13PART II The ABCs of Computer Science 253 Algorithms: Instructions for Computers 274 Big Data and Data Mining 555 Computer Intelligence 896 Machine Learning Versus People 1357 Are We Literate Yet? 151PART III The Path to Better Decisions, With and Without Machines 1538 Algorithms, Discrimination and Ideology 1559 How to Stay in Control 17710 Who Wants Machines Making Decisions About People, Anyway? 19311 It's Time for "The Talk" about Strong AI 205Postscript 217Glossary 223Notes 229Index 249