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the best books on AI

The AI books most often recommended by AI researchers, founders, journalists, and public intellectuals in our index. Hand-curated canon plus emerging recent reads — covering both technical depth and the broader societal stakes.

28 books, ranked by how many of the 4,800 notable readers in our index have publicly recommended each one.

  1. AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
    17 people

    AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order

    Kai-Fu Lee · 2018

    17 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  2. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
    17 people

    Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

    Douglas R. Hofstadter · 1999

    17 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  3. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
    16 people

    Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

    Nick Bostrom · 2014

    16 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  4. Life 3.0
    13 people

    Life 3.0

    Max Tegmark · 2017

    13 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  5. The Singularity Is Near
    13 people

    The Singularity Is Near

    Ray Kurzweil · 2006

    13 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  6. Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control
    11 people

    Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control

    Stuart Russell · 2019

    11 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  7. The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma
    10 people

    The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma

    Michael Bhaskar & Mustafa Suleyman · 2023

    10 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  8. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
    9 people

    The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

    Walter Isaacson · 2021

    9 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  9. Algorithms to Live By
    7 people

    Algorithms to Live By

    Brian Christian · 2016

    7 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  10. Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology
    6 people

    Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

    Chris Miller · 2022

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  11. Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of the Machine
    5 people

    Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of the Machine

    Hannah Fry · 2019

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  12. Race After Technology
    5 people

    Race After Technology

    Ruha Benjamin · 2019

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  13. The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values
    5 people

    The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values

    Brian Christian · 2020

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  14. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
    5 people

    Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

    Cathy O'Neil · 2016

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  15. The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI
    4 people

    The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI

    Ray Kurzweil · 2024

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  16. I Am a Strange Loop
    3 people

    I Am a Strange Loop

    Douglas R. Hofstadter · 2007

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  17. Rebooting AI
    3 people

    Rebooting AI

    Gary Marcus · 2019

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  18. The Master Algorithm
    3 people

    The Master Algorithm

    Pedro Domingos · 2015

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  19. Architects of Intelligence
    2 people

    Architects of Intelligence

    Martin Ford · 2018

    2 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  20. Genius Makers
    2 people

    Genius Makers

    Cade Metz · 2021

    2 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  21. Nexus
    2 people

    Nexus

    Ramez Naam · 2012

    2 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  22. Nexus
    2 people

    Nexus

    Henry Miller · 1966

    2 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  23. A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence
    1 person

    A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence

    Jeff Hawkins · 2021

    1 recommender

    AmazonBookshop
  24. Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI
    1 person

    Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI

    Ethan Mollick · 2024

    1 recommender

    AmazonBookshop
  25. Nexus
    1 person

    Nexus

    Jonathan Reed Winkler · 2008

    1 recommender

    AmazonBookshop
  26. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
    1 person

    Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

    Yuval Noah Harari · 2024

    1 recommender

    AmazonBookshop
  27. The Age of AI and Our Human Future
    1 person

    The Age of AI and Our Human Future

    Henry A Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher · 2021

    1 recommender

    AmazonBookshop
  28. The Worlds I See
    1 person

    The Worlds I See

    Fei-Fei Li · 2023

    1 recommender

    AmazonBookshop

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Methodology: each book is ranked by the number of recommenders in our index who have publicly endorsed it. Curated topics use a hand-picked book list; year-stamped pages query our index by publication year. More on methodology →