Unfortunately, I had a hard time with the format of this book. It is part fiction and part non-fiction. The book addresses several different areas of artificial intelligence and how it will impact our lives in the future. While these may not happen exactly, there is the direction AI is going towards today. To help make these concepts more appealing there is a fictional story demonstrating a specific aspect of AI.

The format made for too much repetition for me, with one author proving the framework, then the fictional story, then a recap and further explanation. The stories were long and with the before and after it was too much redundancy for me reading this book straight through.

My library bought a copy of this book and I see the appeal for college students studying artificial intelligence. They could easily pick the chapters that interest them the most and read those sections.
One interesting final note, just in the last couple of weeks a Google engineer claims their chat bot has become sentient, is this the end goal of artificial intelligence?

Half of this book is Sci-Fi, the other half is nonfiction.

The format is that you read a short sci-fi story taking place in 2041, then there's a short nonfiction explanation about the tech that appears in the story.

I only read nonfiction, so I skimmed half of this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the nonfiction part.
Someone who loves both science fiction and nonfiction will adore the book and give it 5 stars.

Short story collections are always hard to rate because there are always some hits and some misses, but I thought the structure of this was really unique and overall really enjoyed my reading experience.

Each of the 10 stories was set in the year 2041 and each took place in a different part of the world and focused on a different aspect of how AI might change the way we live in the year 2041. Then it was followed by a short analysis of the AI used including where we're at currently and challenges that might come along to get to where they're at in the story. I found the analysis to be quite interesting and thought Kai-Fu Lee did a great job explaining the concepts in layman's terms.

One nit-picky thing though, Kai-Fu Lee refers to the challenges of UBI (universal basic income) in the analysis for both The Job Savior (a job displacement story where AI helps reallocate the workforce) and Dreaming of Plentitude (set in a world where scarcity no longer exists) and both times I felt like the assumption that having a UBI will lead to people wasting away because they've lost their life's purpose (having a prosperous career) is flawed. Especially when sandwiched in between those two stories is a story where the main character was a super successful businessman/celebrity and left it all because he wasn't happy (Isle of Happiness).

Some of my favorites were:
Gods Behind the Masks - Set in Lagos, I especially liked the commentary on global disparity in this one.
Contactless Love - I was a bit worried about the concept here because it presumes that humans end up coexisting with COVID-19 and follows a woman who hasn't left her apartment in 3 years out of fear/anxiety.
My Haunting Idol - Set in Tokyo, a music idol is found dead and a superfan uses his "ghost" to solve the mystery of his death, and I love a good mystery plot.
The Holy Driver - This follows a teen boy in Sri Lanka who becomes a virtual driver, which sounds odd but it really worked for me. Though some of my enjoyment might have been from reminiscing of my time spent in Sri Lanka and Shenzhen.

Given who the coauthors are, the brilliance of this book delivers the expected.
Chen, in particular, brings his consistently amazing touch to the chapters. Few writers today in SF can sync the technical acumen he holds with narrative command and character innovation.
What's more, the book's sequencing is highly effective as a collection that constitutes a journey through a thought lab or network of labs rather than a simple set of siloed singles.
A key work for planning right now for the AI that's nearly here.

This book is a great idea and concept. I realize I am likely not the audience for this read as I truly had a hard time getting into the reads. But the introduction of the book, introduction to each chapter, creativities demonstrating what life may be like in the future, with discussions after each story. Not my cup of tea, but I still respect it and if may be yours.

Brilliant book. The dramatized story version in each chapter brings to life complex AI topics and hotly debated points. Much more impactful tham dry theory or lengthy explanations. Some chapters like the isle of happiness and the job savior put forward very interesting perspectives and potential solutions about AI impacts on work, happiness and being human!
Highly recommend.

This is OK. I didn't like it as much as I'd hope. But it does contain some unique and interesting ideas in for form of fiction. Sometimes, translated work loses something (due to cultural differences?) for American audiences, and maybe that happened here. For sci-fi fans seeking something different, this might be enjoyable.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!