Review of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI: A Handbook for All” by Arthur Goldstuck

Thanks to ChatGPT, which put artificial intelligence centre stage in late 2022, it has become apparent that AI is and will continue to be a part of our lives. In fact, as Arthur Goldstuck points out, AI has been around for a while in various forms but didn’t grab the global spotlight the way ChatGPT has done – with Bing Chat and Google Bard losing out on the starring role.

If you are old enough, you may remember that Arthur Goldstuck published a South African guide to the Internet back in the mid-nineties. The local tech guru’s 2023 book covers the good, the bad, and the ugly of artificial intelligence. On the upside, it is being used to save time spent on grunt work – like sifting through medical records, searching for legal precedents, and picking up fraud or sales patterns. Industries as diverse as healthcare, travel, financial services, agriculture, law, manufacturing and creatives are tapping into the benefits of AI. One impressive example he gives (which has South African roots) is a company called “Aerobotics”: they use AI to analyse drone video footage to advise farmers across the continent on improving output and sustainability.

Things can get a little grey in areas like creativity and education. AI in creative writing should be a tool for ideas the human author will flesh out and fact-check (while injecting emotion, tone or personal insights). However, as in education, Arthur Goldstuck acknowledges that misuse of AI by the lazy undermines learning and creativity. He believes that while banning it isn’t the answer, schools and teachers must have clear policies on AI as an educational aid.

From grey to grimy … inevitably, AI is also being exploited by the less honourable among us. The author takes us through the more troubling possibilities, from copyright infringements and spreading misinformation to ‘deep fakes’ and ethical questions around releasing new music from deceased artists.

The book chapters are flagged with small icons to denote whether they cover general learning material or are of more targeted interest. So, if you don’t know adaptive from generative AI, and are keen to understand how AI is making itself felt in our lives, then this book could be helpful.

P.S. While I didn’t resort to ChatGPT to compile this short review, I did consult Grammarly, a form of AI, for any feedback on my grammar and phrasing … occasionally the human knows best!