Supremacy

AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World

By: Parmy Olson

Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan

In November 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. It was more human than a customer service agent, more convenient than a Google search. Behind the scenes, battles for control and prestige between the world’s two leading AI firms, OpenAI and DeepMind, who now steers Google's AI efforts, has remained elusive—until now.

In Supremacy, Olson, tech writer at Bloomberg, tells the astonishing story of the battle between these two AI firms, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the hazardous direction they could go as they serve two tech monopolies whose power is unprecedented in history. The story focuses on the continuing rivalry of two key CEOs at the center of it all, who cultivated a religion around their mission to build god-like super intelligent machines: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis, the CEO of DeepMind.

Supremacy sharply alerts listeners to the real threat of artificial intelligence that its top creators are ignoring: the profit-driven spread of flawed and biased technology into industries, education, media and more. With exclusive access to a network of high-ranking sources, Parmy Olson uses her 13 years of experience covering technology to bring to light the exploitation of the greatest invention in human history, and how it will impact us all.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2024 Parmy Olson (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"We gain a jarringly clear sense of the radical social and economic changes already being brought about by AI and of at least some of the risks posed by them....An accessible, insightful exploration of the history and evolving impact of AI technologies."–Kirkus Reviews

“Supremacy makes the topic of artificial intelligence approachable and entertaining by telling the human stories of the people building AI companies. There is never a dull moment in this gripping book.”–Arvind Narayanan, professor of computer science at Princeton University and co-author of AI Snake Oil

“Money, power, and a Faustian bargain that may change the world frame this timely and deeply researched account of two of the biggest players in the race to AI.”—Gary Marcus, professor emeritus at New York University and author of Taming Silicon Valley

Historical development okay

Historical development of Open AI and Deep Mind got good description. But the author doesn’t understand technical details (there none in the book) but instead puts a lot of woke nonsense. She was offended by the jokes ChatGPT made about women,

great for guardian readers

The book has good stories and presents a timeline of recent AI developments but the author has an axe to grind about intersectional problems with the models and their developers which consumes most of the book.

The growth of AI and what it offers in the future, both good and bad

I enjoyed the explanations of the thought processes of creators trying to do the right things with AI and their fears and the discussions regarding what happens when AI gets in the hands of someone that feels absolute power is absolute, and then what if that power gets away from you

My rating: 9

Great story telling. Nice insight into the world of AI and its implications towards the future

interesting read and useful for AI enthusiasts

good book telling the modern story ot how AI development is intertwined with corporate ambitious and inside stories. good read and an entertaining one but feels more on the podcast rather than a scientific book. nothing against it but clarifying this to set the readers expectations, if your looking for a light fun book to tell you the story of how and who was behind what we see on the AI scene today then this book is highly recommended

Solid overview of recent AI evolution

For the most part the written content seems like well researched and balanced journalism. However the writer allowed some occasional anti-tech bias to creep in. Perhaps the writer is right. This may have been exacerbated by the tone of the school-marm narrator. Like my English teacher, she never made a grammatical mistake but still wasn’t very convincing. This all may have been driven by the publisher’s understanding that a dash of extremism sells books.

Fascinating story of AI

This is my 4th book in on AI development and this is my favorite so far. Well done.
My only complaint is that was a bit too woke for me, but that aspect didn’t detract from the overall story.

Too important not to read

AI is a technology freight train, and I only hope for making sense of it, never mind keeping up, is reading everything you can get your hands on. This is an excellent insight into two of the leaders in the field, and how the players interact.

Filled a lot of holes

As an AI enthusiast, I found the storyline enriching—it effectively filled in many historical gaps concerning the development of AI and the key figures involved. It also enhanced my understanding of the reasons to control AI. However, the narrative was occasionally frustrating, particularly when it shifted between years or decades without clear markers. It was sometimes confusing whether the events were taking place in 2002 or 2015, for example. Including more explicit references to the years would have made the storyline performance even more enjoyable.

Riveting.

Well written and narrated, I read this book in a single sitting over the weekend at 1.45X.