Setting aside apocalyptic rhetoric, a book explains what lies behind AI and its effects

We can understand artificial intelligence as ‘humanity’s ultimate invention’, and above all as the complex and ever-evolving result of a community of men and women from diverse backgrounds and with varied educational experiences who have shaped this invention. Reading Alessandro Aresu’s ‘Geopolitica dell’intelligenza artificiale’ (Geopolitics of artificial intelligence) can help us to achieve this goal.

The author begins with an observation: the emergence of artificial intelligence raises the spectre of the extinction of its creator, as its widespread adoption may render the creator obsolete.  Aresu himself rightly describes this view as apocalyptic, but explains that it now pervades public discourse on technology in a world where the term ‘artificial intelligence’ has become ubiquitous and obsessive. As Aresu points out, these are ‘issues that are by no means new, given their deep philosophical roots and the pioneers who, in various fields, have nurtured them throughout the twentieth century’. Nevertheless, when it comes to artificial intelligence itself, none of us is able to fully grasp its implications and connections. Even taking into account – as Aresu himself points out – that the debate on this technology raises a number of key concepts, such as the origin of intelligence itself, the mechanisms by which the brain functions and thought develops, the applications of artificial intelligence to machines, the quantitative and qualitative limits of computation and, above all, the problem of aligning technology with our needs and values.

Aresu, however, goes beyond all this. The book, in fact, seeks to introduce readers to the companies driving artificial intelligence and – above all – to explain their implications in a radically divided world, torn apart by the technological war between the United States and China, which permeates the infrastructure and applications of artificial intelligence, and the race for the economic and material resources necessary for its continued development. The book thus explores the web of relationships between philosophers, scientists and entrepreneurs who are shaping this world. People such as ‘Jensen’ Huang, founder of NVIDIA and the undisputed leading figure in the technological revolution surrounding AI, or ‘Bill’ Dally, a computer scientist and the scientific mind behind the microchips that make the evolution of AI possible, but also the stories of the lesser-known managers working at OpenAI.

Aresu’s book thus helps us understand the nature of artificial intelligence, its current state and possible future scenarios, as well as the rivalries between the companies involved in its development and the geopolitical repercussions on the global balance of power.

Geopolitica dell’intelligenza artificiale

Alessandro Aresu

Feltrinelli, 2024