Breaking Bots

Book excerpt: THE FUTRE IS OURS When humans first evolved, we were basically indistinguishable from animals. Then we harnessed the power of fire, and it catapulted us beyond a state of animalism. Since then, human innovation has propelled us from one technological revolution to the next. We are now at the next world-altering wave of technological evolution: artificial intelligence. But the current AI offerings cannot fulfill our fundamental desire to communicate with our technology through speech. We didn't evolve to type or use a mouse; we evolved to have conversations, including with our technology. We want the USS Enterprise shipboard computer, J.A.R.V.I.S. from Iron Man, the interface from Her. But we are not there yet. Conversational AI and AI in general are collectively our next fire, light bulb, or internet. And we must thank Apple, Google, and Amazon for whetting our appetite with Siri, Google Home, and Alexa. But now we're ready for what's next. That's where the groundbreaking work of computer scientist Jason Mars and Clinc, the company he founded, comes in. Breaking Bots paints a thrilling portrait of the past, present, and future of the AI revolution through Jason's unlikely journey to AI stardom, the extraordinary rise of Clinc from a scrappy start-up to a juggernaut toppler, and the paradigm-shifting technical and cultural DNA that makes Jason's work and Clinc's technology the future of AI. The AI revolution is at hand--and you are part of the journey!