Architects of Intelligence
The Truth About AI from the People Building It
Lavin Exclusive Speaker
How did AI advance from the realm of science fiction to today’s reality? And how should we prepare for the future? Martin Ford—a McKinsey award-winning author, software entrepreneur, and TED mainstage speaker—explains why our current plans to manage the robotics revolution fall short. Brilliant, fastidious, and uncannily prescient, Ford orients investors and managers in the shifting technological landscape, helping to both safeguard potential threats, and distinguish the hype from the real opportunities.
In Martin Ford’s most recent book, Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI From the People Building It, the Silicon Valley software developer interviews 23 of the world’s foremost AI researchers and machine learning entrepreneurs. Senior leaders at Google, Facebook, McKinsey, Stanford, and MIT discuss the evolution of AI—and the major innovations on the horizon. What is the path toward human-level machine intelligence? And what should we be concerned about as AI advances? Three of the book’s featured subjects won the Turing Award (considered the Nobel Prize of computing), making Architects one of the most high-profile, in-depth investigations of artificial intelligence to date.
Ford’s previous book, Rise of the Robots, was a New York Times Bestseller, a McKinsey Award-Winner, and a Business Insider Best Business Book of the Year. Clearly written, powerfully argued, and massively influential, Rise was reviewed by Barbara Ehrenreich in a cover feature for The New York Times Book Review, where she described it as, “both a humbling book and, in the best sense, a humble one,” and praised Ford for never succumbing “to the obvious temptation to overdramatize or exaggerate.” Lucid and compelling, Ford has established himself as a leading—and trustworthy—voice in the robotics revolution. In his upcoming book, he will examine artificial intelligence in terms of its utility, and truly illustrate the disruptive power it has to change every aspect of our lives.
Ford is the consulting expert for Societe Generale’s new “Rise of the Robots” equity index, which focuses on tracking 150 global stocks involved in AI and robotics (selected after thorough, data-driven research). Together, they have also developed the Lyxor Robotics and AI UCITS— an ETF that invests in AI and robotics companies based on the benchmark index of Rise of the Robots, and has continuously outperformed the competition since going live.
In addition to writing three books, Ford has contributed to notable publications including Fortune, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Fiscal Times, and appeared on radio and television programs on NPR and CNBC. He has over 25 years of experience in computer design and software development, and holds a computer engineering degree from the University of Michigan, and a graduate business degree from UCLA.