The Alignment Problem
Brian Christian
Brian Christian
Recommendation inspired by:
How to get better at video games, according to babies - Brian Christian
There’s an apocalyptic thought experiment by Nick Bostrom where a company creates an artificial intelligence whose job is to make as many paperclips as possible. They forget to tell it to value human life though, so eventually, when human culture stands in the way of paperclip production, it eradicates humanity and converts the entire planet into paperclips. That’s an extreme and (hopefully) unlikely scenario, but it turns that throughout the history of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it’s been incredibly difficult to get the machines to do exactly what we want them to. For instance, we’ve inadvertently trained them to carry human bias into algorithmic parole decisions and facial recognition software. And as the algorithms become more complex and more empowered, we’re bumping up into scenarios where human safety and well-being are on the line. The Alignment Problem explores these ideas in fluid, fascinating, and accessible manner. You don’t need any background in programming to read it, as the book is full of real-world stories and anecdotes that make the concepts graspable and immediate. You’ll also learn a great deal about people and how we learn and think along the way, because the fields of human and machine learning are on a seesaw of discovery; a breakthrough in one often offers revelations in the other.
Recommended by:
Alex Rosenthal, TED-Ed Team
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Hi, we’re the TED-Ed team -- the scrappy group of educators and animators who produce over 140 free, high-quality, educational animations for you every year. We’d really like to start recommending books to you, too. Here's why...
We spend months researching the topic of every TED-Ed episode, and in the process we almost always discover books that explore the video's subject matter to a level of depth that only books can achieve. It’s a joyful experience — digging deep into a topic and understanding the world a little better as a result. We want you to discover those books and have that experience, too.
That’s why we’ve invested time to partner with publishers and utilize existing affiliate link programs to begin independently recommending books at the end of TED-Ed episodes on a rolling basis.
By using TED-Ed Book Recs navigate to and purchase your next great read, you are helping support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission. Thanks for your continued support!
Hi, we’re the TED-Ed team -- the scrappy group of educators and animators who produce over 140 free, high-quality, educational animations for you every year. We’d really like to start recommending books to you, too. Here's why...
We spend months researching the topic of every TED-Ed episode, and in the process we almost always discover books that explore the video's subject matter to a level of depth that only books can achieve. It’s a joyful experience — digging deep into a topic and understanding the world a little better as a result. We want you to discover those books and have that experience, too.
That’s why we’ve invested time to partner with publishers and utilize existing affiliate link programs to begin independently recommending books at the end of TED-Ed episodes on a rolling basis.
By using TED-Ed Book Recs navigate to and purchase your next great read, you are helping support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission. Thanks for your continued support!
Hi, we’re the TED-Ed team -- the scrappy group of educators and animators who produce over 140 free, high-quality, educational animations for you every year. We’d really like to start recommending books to you, too. Here's why...
We spend months researching the topic of every TED-Ed episode, and in the process we almost always discover books that explore the video's subject matter to a level of depth that only books can achieve. It’s a joyful experience — digging deep into a topic and understanding the world a little better as a result. We want you to discover those books and have that experience, too.
That’s why we’ve invested time to partner with publishers and utilize existing affiliate link programs to begin independently recommending books at the end of TED-Ed episodes on a rolling basis.
By using TED-Ed Book Recs navigate to and purchase your next great read, you are helping support TED-Ed's nonprofit mission. Thanks for your continued support!
Hi, we’re the TED-Ed team -- the scrappy group of eight educators and animators who produce over 140 free, high-quality, educational animations for you every year. We’d really like to start recommending free books to you, too. Here's why...
We spend months researching the topic of every TED-Ed episode, and in the process we almost always discover books that explore the video's subject matter to a level of depth that only books can achieve. It’s a joyful experience — digging deep into a topic and understanding the world a little better as a result. We want you to discover those books and have that experience, too.
That’s why we’re excited to announce that with support from Audible, we’ll now begin independently recommending books at the end of TED-Ed episodes on a rolling basis. We’ll also be gradually building out the TED-Ed Book Recommendations section of our website, with the goal to add at least one personalized book recommendation for every single TED-Ed episode that we’ve produced.
You can find the books we’ll recommend at your local library, and you can also start a free trial on Audible using this link — audible.com/teded -- and download one audio book for free.
Every free trial encourages Audible to continue supporting TED-Ed’s nonprofit mission, so if a TED-Ed episode captures your interest, please consider downloading an audio version of the related book through Audible. Thanks for your support!
Hi, we’re the TED-Ed team -- the scrappy group of eight educators and animators who produce over 140 free, high-quality, educational animations for you every year. We’d really like to start recommending free books to you, too. Here's why...
We spend months researching the topic of every TED-Ed episode, and in the process we almost always discover books that explore the video's subject matter to a level of depth that only books can achieve. It’s a joyful experience — digging deep into a topic and understanding the world a little better as a result. We want you to discover those books and have that experience, too.
That’s why we’re excited to announce that with support from Audible, we’ll now begin independently recommending books at the end of TED-Ed episodes on a rolling basis. We’ll also be gradually building out the TED-Ed Book Recommendations section of our website, with the goal to add at least one personalized book recommendation for every single TED-Ed episode that we’ve produced.
You can find the books we’ll recommend at your local library, and you can also start a free trial on Audible using this link — audible.com/teded -- and download one audio book for free.
Every free trial encourages Audible to continue supporting TED-Ed’s nonprofit mission, so if a TED-Ed episode captures your interest, please consider downloading an audio version of the related book through Audible. Thanks for your support!
Hi, we’re the TED-Ed team -- the scrappy group of eight educators and animators who produce over 140 free, high-quality, educational animations for you every year. We’d really like to start recommending free books to you, too. Here's why...
We spend months researching the topic of every TED-Ed episode, and in the process we almost always discover books that explore the video's subject matter to a level of depth that only books can achieve. It’s a joyful experience — digging deep into a topic and understanding the world a little better as a result. We want you to discover those books and have that experience, too.
That’s why we’re excited to announce that with support from Audible, we’ll now begin independently recommending books at the end of TED-Ed episodes on a rolling basis. We’ll also be gradually building out the TED-Ed Book Recommendations section of our website, with the goal to add at least one personalized book recommendation for every single TED-Ed episode that we’ve produced.
You can find the books we’ll recommend at your local library, and you can also start a free trial on Audible using this link — audible.com/teded -- and download one audio book for free.
Every free trial encourages Audible to continue supporting TED-Ed’s nonprofit mission, so if a TED-Ed episode captures your interest, please consider downloading an audio version of the related book through Audible. Thanks for your support!
