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Cover of The Alignment Problem

How long does it take to read The Alignment Problem?

Brian Christian

The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian takes about 6 hours 32 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 6 hours 32 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2020. 356 pages, about 97,900 words.

14 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 10 hours 53 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 6 hours 32 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 4 hours 5 minutes

The page count is the median across 8 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

"A jaw-dropping exploration of everything that goes wrong when we build AI systems-and the movement to fix them. Today's "machine-learning" systems, trained by data, are so effective that we've invited them to see and hear for us-and to make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Systems cull résumés until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases. Algorithms decide bail and parole-and appear to assess black and white defendants differently. We can no longer assume that our mortgage application, or even our medical tests, will be seen by human eyes. And autonomous vehicles on our streets can injure or kill. When systems we attempt to teach will not, in the end, do what we want or what we expect, ethical and potentially existential risks emerge. Researchers call this the alignment problem. In best-selling author Brian Christian's riveting account, we meet the alignment problem's "first-responders," and learn their ambitious plan to solve it before our hands are completely off the wheel"--Provided by publisher.

Subjects: Science, Artificial intelligence, Computers, social aspects, Cognitive science, Moral and ethical aspects, Social aspects

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