Harvard Book Store welcomes Craig Mundie—president of Mundie & Associates and former chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft—for a discussion of his new book Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit. He will be joined in conversation by Jonathan Zittrain—the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
About Genesis
As it absorbs data, gains agency, and intermediates between humans and reality, AI (Artificial Intelligence) will help us to address enormous crises, from climate change to geopolitical conflicts to income inequality. It might well solve some of the greatest mysteries of our universe and elevate the human spirit to unimaginable heights. But it will also pose challenges on a scale and of an intensity that we have never seen—usurping our power of independent judgment and action, testing our relationship with the divine, and perhaps even spurring a new phase in human evolution.
The last book of elder statesman Henry Kissinger, written with technologists Craig Mundie and Eric Schmidt, Genesis charts a course between blind faith and unjustified fear as it outlines an effective strategy for navigating the age of AI.
Praise for Genesis
“AI may be one of the greatest technological revolutions ever, and the biggest question is how humans will adapt. This important book offers one of the first real looks at the future now in front of us—a future of almost limitless possibility, along with very complex new challenges.” ―Sam Altman
“A timely exploration of the relationship between artificial intelligence and knowledge, power, and politics, this book pushes us to think hard about the risk and potential AI holds for humanity.” ―Bill Gates
“In the coming Age of Artificial Intelligence, what will be the role of humans? In the final years of his life, Henry Kissinger immersed himself in studying AI, and he coauthored this book with technologists Eric Schmidt and Craig Mundie. It is a profound exploration of how we can protect human dignity and values in an era of autonomous machines.” ―Walter Isaacson
Bios
Craig J. Mundie, president of Mundie & Associates, joined Microsoft in 1992 and retired in 2014 as chief research and strategy officer. He advises Microsoft on quantum computing and cybersecurity, is a director of the Institute for Systems Biology, a technology advisor to the Cleveland Clinic, and also an investor/advisor in early-stage companies involved in AI, biotech, fusion energy, and materials science. He served Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama on the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Among his honors is a Doctor of Engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jonathan L. Zittrain is George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Director of the Harvard Law School Library, and Cofounder and Director of Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.
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