Artificial Intelligence: The Impact on our Lives

Woolf gallops through the development of what he persistently refers to as ‘A.I.’ from Turing to nanobots, and of course his text is littered with picturesque examples. We see how science, medicine, commerce, security, warfare and entertainment are all potentiated by A.I. Helpfully, we are shown the downside (privacy-invasion, dodgy gas-bills etc.) as well as the advantages of mechanical decision-making. We learn that the US army is researching its use in battlefield situations (but not battlefield-avoidance, I dare say), but, most cheering of all, Woolf tells us that ‘so far, no computer has shown the genuine musical taste or intuition possessed by some humans.’ So far, so good, then, but so what?