Co-Intelligence

If you had to recommend just one introductory book on generative AI (GenAI), which one would it be? – My choice would definitely be Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick.

Ethan Mollick provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the impact of GenAI on our daily lifes, our work, and our self-perception as intelligent beings. Along the way, he familiarizes us with the history of AI, how GenAI systems are built, and their limitations.

Mollick is an accomplished researcher in management and innovation who, early on, investigated the implications of generative AI (GenAI) for business. He has used GenAI systems to create educational games and for numerous private projects, such as image creation, literature summaries, and text authoring. The book contains many tangible and illustrative examples that have originated from this extensive collection of the author.

I would recommend this book as an introduction to GenAI, as it provides a basic understanding of the topic that is relevant to both our personal and professional lives. It encourages us to collect our own experiences, and it provides excellent guidance along the way.

So, the book can build a solid foundation for your use of GenAI, no matter what your preferred uses and applications may be.

Particular strengths of the book are in my opinion:

• Substantial yet easy-to-read introduction to all facets of GenAI that matter for work and personal life, as well as for evaluating the implications of this new technology
• Solid foundation for understanding of what GenAI is and what it means to you
• Engaging motivation to start using GenAI systems
• Competent guidance on how to use and explore GenAI
• Timelessly relevant despite the rapid advances in GenAI technology (at least as of the time of this writing)

You should also be aware what the book is not:

• No technical or theoretical introduction to GenAI
• No comprehensive history or timeline of GenAI systems
• No catalog or market overview of GenAI systems
• No tutorial on prompting GenAI systems

However, the book provides introductory information or hands-on orientation for each of these aspects.

The key assumption of the book is that GenAI is here to stay, and that we should treat GenAI systems as a Co-Intelligence (sic the title), „with all the ambiguity that the term implies“ and in the sense that GenAI „augments, or potentially replaces, human thinking“.

Mollick proposes four Rules for Co-Intelligence as principles of working with AI:

• Principle 1: Always invite AI to the table.
• Principle 2: Be the human in the loop.
• Principle 3: Treat AI like a person (but tell it what kind of person it is).
• Principle 4: Assume this is the worst AI you will ever use.

In essence, these mean that we should experiment with GenAI and try to use it beneficially in all our activities (Principle 1); that we take care to provide directions and appropriate input for good results, and also check the results (Principle 2); that interaction with GenAI systems works best when we interact with them in conversational style and clearly define the roles in which they shall act (Principle 3); and that we must expect fast and continuous progress of the GenAI system’s capabilities (Principle 4).

These four Rules for Co-Intelligence complete Part One of the book, which starts with two sections that explain how GenAI systems are built, and how they are aligned to provide results that we expect, find useful, and regard ethically appropriate.

The book’s introduction section is entitled Three Sleepless Nights. It reports the author’s encounter with the revolutionary release of ChatGPT in November 2022, when he realized that a fundamental technological shift had occurred, and that it will change many aspects of our lives.

Part Two explores what it means to treat GenAI as a person (cf. Principle 1): First, Mollick discusses fundamental aspects of personifying a technical system. Then, he addresses four important person-like roles that GenAI systems may take: Creative, Coworker, Tutor, and Coach.

The last section of Part One, AI As Our Future, lays out four progressively disruptive scenarios of how GenAI may develop, and how it will impact and change our world – from stagnation in GenAI’s progress to the ultimate Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) becoming a „Machine God“ to us.

The brief, nuanced Epilogue AI As Us argues that AI systems, which are built from and according to human input, mirror and reflect back our own properties. – It is still our responsibility to decide and shape the future of AI, and its implications for us.

Finally, the book provides a wealth of useful and interesting literature references and web links. These substantiate the explanations and statements made throughout the text and offer interesting opportunities for further reading.

For first-hand information you may look up the book’s homepage at its publisher’s (Random House Penguin) website: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741805/co-intelligence-by-ethan-mollick/

The citation information of the book is: E. Mollick, Co-intelligence: Living and working with AI. New York, NY: Penguin Random House, 2024.