AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter by Josh Tyrangiel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Simon & Schuster

— Out Now —

There’re a lot of books out about artificial intelligence (AI) these days. There are how-to manuals. There are books about the making of billionaires on the back of AI-centric business models. There are books that consider how AI will destroy the human economy (and possibly humanity as we know it.) Josh Tyrangiel’s book seeks to carve out a niche by taking a positive view towards AI but focusing not so much on how it produces more billionaire tech executives, but rather on how it can help fix persistent social problems in education, healthcare, governance, and human communication and connectedness. Of course, this isn’t a completely separate topic from business use of AI (e.g. healthcare is one of the biggest businesses in America [which is no doubt emblematic of America’s unrelentingly shitty healthcare;]) however, these are areas that each feature their own unique challenges, problems for which the lessons of the business sector, broadly, are often of limited value.

I found this book to be illuminating. It introduced several fascinating characters from various domains. Among the most intriguing discussions were those with a short-lived DOGE employee and one with a Hoosier high school principal. It was also interesting to learn about the evolution of AI language translators.

If you are interested in how AI is being applied beyond hardcore business uses like supply chain optimization and computer programming, you may want to give this book a look.

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