
These Strange New Minds
How AI Learned to Talk and What It Means
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Narrated by:
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Rufus Wright
About this listen
An insider look at the Large Language Models (LLMs) that are revolutionizing our relationship to technology, exploring their surprising history, what they can and should do for us today, and where they will go in the future—from an AI pioneer and neuroscientist
In this accessible, up-to-date, and authoritative examination of the world’s most radical technology, neuroscientist and AI researcher Christopher Summerfield explores what it really takes to build a brain from scratch. We have entered a world in which disarmingly human-like chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Claude and Bard, appear to be able to talk and reason like us—and are beginning to transform everything we do. But can AI ‘think’, 'know' and ‘understand’? What are its values? Whose biases is it perpetuating? Can it lie and if so, could we tell? Does their arrival threaten our very existence?
These Strange New Minds charts the evolution of intelligent talking machines and provides us with the tools to understand how they work and how we can use them. Ultimately, armed with an understanding of AI’s mysterious inner workings, we can begin to grapple with the existential question of our age: have we written ourselves out of history or is a technological utopia ahead?
©2025 Christopher Summerfield (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A compelling and insightful exploration of large language models (LLMs) and their profound world impact. This work is both a great introduction to artificial intelligence and a thought-provoking analysis of its capabilities and limitations…. A key addition to collections, this is more than just another tech book: it’s a guide to navigating the era of AI with awareness, and the writing encourages readers to think critically about how humans interact with the technology.”—Library Journal
“Christopher Summerfield offers a lucid, thoughtful and deeply humane exploration of the lines between human and machine intelligence—and of what those frontiers reveal about our own minds. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not merely where AI is headed, but what it is showing us about ourselves.”—IBM
“Provocative… Summerfield brings some welcome nuance and clarity to discussions of LLMs. In a crowded field of AI primers, this rises to the top.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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Reid & Greg See a positive future for AI & Humans
- By T. Gallina on 04-10-25
By: Reid Hoffman, and others
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The Essentials of AI Deep Learning and Neural Networks
- Beginner's Guide to Understanding Machine Learning and Building Advanced AI Skills in Minutes a Day
- By: Jordan Blake
- Narrated by: Susan Prater
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Unlock the Secrets of AI Deep Learning and Neural Networks: Empower Your Future in Minutes a Day! Ready to dive into the world of artificial intelligence, but don’t know where to start? Whether you're a student, developer, or curious learner, this book takes you on a journey to master deep learning concepts, demystify neural networks, and transform your skills into real-world impact—all at your own pace.
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Worst narration I’ve ever heard, but good book
- By Sherlock Holmes on 06-25-25
By: Jordan Blake
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The Edge of Sentience
- Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI
- By: Jonathan Birch
- Narrated by: Graham Mack
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Can octopuses feel pain and pleasure? What about crabs, shrimps, insects, or spiders? How do we tell whether a person unresponsive after severe brain injury might be suffering? When does a fetus in the womb start to have conscious experiences? Could there even be rudimentary feelings in miniature models of the human brain, grown from human stem cells? And what about AI? These are questions about the edge of sentience, and they are subject to enormous, disorienting uncertainty. We desperately want certainty, but it is out of reach.
By: Jonathan Birch
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The Second Machine Age
- Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
- By: Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Second Machine Age MIT's Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee—two thinkers at the forefront of their field—reveal the forces driving the reinvention of our lives and our economy. As the full impact of digital technologies is felt, we will realize immense bounty in the form of dazzling personal technology, advanced infrastructure, and near-boundless access to the cultural items that enrich our lives. Amid this bounty will also be wrenching change. Recent economic indicators reflect this shift: fewer people are working, and wages are falling even as productivity and profits soar.
By: Erik Brynjolfsson, and others
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The Franklin Stove
- An Unintended American Revolution
- By: Joyce E. Chaplin
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The biggest revolution in Benjamin Franklin’s lifetime was made to fit in a fireplace. Assembled from iron plates like a piece of flatpack furniture, the Franklin stove became one of the era's most iconic consumer products, spreading from Pennsylvania to England, Italy, and beyond. It was more than just a material object, however—it was also a hypothesis. Franklin was proposing that, armed with science, he could invent his way out of a climate crisis: a period of global cooling known as the Little Ice Age, when unusually bitter winters sometimes brought life to a standstill.
By: Joyce E. Chaplin
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How to Think About AI
- A Guide for the Perplexed
- By: Richard Susskind
- Narrated by: Richard Susskind
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In How To Think About AI, Richard Susskind draws on his experience of working on AI since the early 1980s. For Susskind, balancing the benefits and threats of artificial intelligence is the defining challenge of our age. He explores the history of AI and possible scenarios for its future. His views on AI are not always conventional. He positions ChatGPT and generative AI as no more than the latest chapter in the ongoing story of AI and claims we are still at the foothills of developments.
By: Richard Susskind
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The AI Con
- How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want
- By: Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna
- Narrated by: Jade Wheeler
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Is artificial intelligence going to take over the world? Have big tech scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to put authors, artists, and others out of business? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything? The answer to these questions, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make clear, is “no,” “they wish,” “LOL,” and “definitely not.” This kind of thinking is a symptom of a phenomenon known as “AI hype.”
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A must read, even if you're an AI optimist
- By Malcolm Gomez on 05-15-25
By: Emily M. Bender, and others
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The Thinking Machine
- Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip
- By: Stephen Witt
- Narrated by: Stephen Witt
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In June of 2024, thirty-one years after its founding in a Denny’s restaurant, Nvidia became the most valuable corporation on Earth. The Thinking Machine is the astonishing story of how a designer of video game equipment conquered the market for AI hardware, and in the process re-invented the computer. Essential to Nvidia’s meteoric success is its visionary CEO Jensen Huang, who more than a decade ago, on the basis of a few promising scientific results, bet his entire company on AI.
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A wonderful book!
- By John K. Clark on 04-13-25
By: Stephen Witt
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Supremacy
- AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World
- By: Parmy Olson
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In November 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. It was more human than a customer service agent, more convenient than a Google search. Behind the scenes, battles for control and prestige between the world’s two leading AI firms, OpenAI and DeepMind, who now steers Google's AI efforts, has remained elusive—until now.
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Author doesn’t understand AI
- By David on 09-30-24
By: Parmy Olson
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Shamans and Robots
- On Ritual, the Placebo Effect, and Artificial Consciousness
- By: Roger Bartra, Gusti Gould - translator
- Narrated by: Asa Siegel
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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This book is a profound exploration of the external influences that shape human consciousness, from healing rituals to digital devices. In this voyage through thousands of years of psychosomatic healing, distinguished anthropologist and sociologist Roger Bartra examines the placebo effect as a key to our understanding of human consciousness. Shamans and Robots demonstrates how biology and technology become intertwined within human culture by using the various histories of ritual and symbolic healing to speculate about future developments in artificial intelligence.
By: Roger Bartra, and others
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The Narrative Brain
- The Stories Our Neurons Tell
- By: Fritz Alwin Breithaupt PhD
- Narrated by: Brian Wiggins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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As humans, we think in stories—stories that allow us to feel and share emotions. In order for this phenomenon to work, our brains and the ways in which we tell stories must be attuned to each other. But how exactly does this happen? Tapping into the essence of thinking in stories, Fritz Breithaupt draws on the latest scientific research, including a retelling study (comparable to the telephone game) with more than 12,000 participants, and experiments in which ChatGPT functions as storyteller.
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AI Snake Oil
- What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference
- By: Sayash Kapoor, Arvind Narayanan
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Confused about AI and worried about what it means for your future and the future of the world? You’re not alone. AI is everywhere—and few things are surrounded by so much hype, misinformation, and misunderstanding. In AI Snake Oil, computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor cut through the confusion to give you an essential understanding of how AI works, why it often doesn’t, where it might be useful or harmful, and when you should suspect that companies are using AI hype to sell AI snake oil—products that don’t work, and probably never will.
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Mediocre
- By Amazon Customer on 05-20-25
By: Sayash Kapoor, and others
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Artificial Intelligence
- A Guide for Thinking Humans
- By: Melanie Mitchell
- Narrated by: Abby Craden, Melanie Mitchell, Tony Wolf
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In Artificial Intelligence, Mitchell turns to the most urgent questions concerning AI today: How intelligent - really - are the best AI programs? How do they work? What can they actually do, and when do they fail? How humanlike do we expect them to become, and how soon do we need to worry about them surpassing us? Along the way, she introduces the dominant methods of modern AI and machine learning, describing cutting-edge AI programs, their human inventors, and the historical lines of thought that led to recent achievements.
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Start understanding AI right here!
- By Chad M. on 01-26-20
By: Melanie Mitchell
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More Human
- How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead
- By: Jacqueline Carter, Rasmus Hougaard, Marissa Afton, and others
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lam
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Humans have always been good at inventing tools that change the way we live and work—though not always good at adapting to those changes. Consider how the internet has given us instant access to gigabytes of data and yet has made us more distracted. Or how social media has enabled us to be more connected than ever, and yet it can also alienate or isolate us. Will the power of AI create a new era of robotic, impersonal efficiency, or will it catalyze a renaissance, redefining leadership and the world of work?
By: Jacqueline Carter, and others
Excellent Perspective to AI
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Great review other than woke Blindspot.
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