There are a lot of great books about how AI is going to change our work and our lives. Picking up at least one of them is advised.
Why? Because each one on our top reads list gives you a full appreciation for just how powerful and transformative AI is going to be.
Once you understand that, you’ll likely be much more motivated to complete longer courses and dive into pilot use cases.
See below some of the books that helped us better understand and apply artificial intelligence in marketing.
1. Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI (Paul R. Daugherty and H. James Wilson)
Artificial intelligence will impact your work, no matter what industry you’re in. This book explains how, and offers practical examples of AI’s effect on your company, your business model, and your productivity.
2. Automate This: How Algorithms Took Over Our Markets, Our Jobs, and the World (Christopher Steiner)
You can’t talk AI without talking about the algorithms that power them. This book explores how those algorithms are quickly taking over previously unthinkable tasks in finance, medicine, and business.
3. Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence (Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb)
Three economists evaluate the impact AI will have on business at large by looking at the economic framework that is driving AI innovation. The result? A practical guide to the future for business leaders.
4. AI for Marketers: An Introduction and Primer (Christopher S. Penn)
Marketing tech expert Chris Penn outlines what marketers need to know about AI, including what it is (and isn’t), what you should ask vendors, and how to spot practical applications for AI in marketing.
5. AI Transformation Playbook (Andrew Ng)
Andrew Ng has helped major organizations like Google and Baidu transform into AI-first companies. He shares his playbook for AI transformation in this free download.
6. The Algorithmic Leader (Mike Walsh)
Futurist Mike Walsh offers a guide for business leaders to take advantage of the AI revolution and the smart algorithms that will increasingly dictate business success.
7. AI Superpowers (Kai-Fu Lee)
Kai-Fu Lee, a leading expert on AI, walks through how the U.S. and China will compete for dominance in the age of AI—and what that means for business as usual.
8. Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Joseph Aoun)
AI isn’t just changing your work; it’s changing how your education—and the education of your kids and grandkids—works. This book looks at how higher education can train future generations for high-value work in a world where robots are increasingly able to do complex tasks better than humans.
9. The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies (Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee)
Two leading thinkers on future tech share the roadmap for how society and business can survive and thrive in an era of exponential technological change.
10. Team Human (Douglas Rushkoff)
This manifesto from noted digital theorist Douglas Rushkoff delivers a big picture look at how we become more human in a world increasingly dominated by machines.
11. The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It (Scott Patterson)
A highly readable introduction to how algorithms and automation can massively disrupt even the most complex industries. In this case, author Scott Patterson details how AI took over Wall Street, but in doing so shows us how the technology can change other industries nearly overnight.
12. The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World (Pedro Domingos)
This book details the different schools of thought around various algorithms and how, together, they comprise the bulk of AI technology. Even more exciting is discussion of a “master algorithm” that may help all these disciplines work together to build artificially intelligent solutions for the world’s most challenging problems.
13. The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency (Annie Jacobsen)
You might think this is a book about top-secret spy stuff, but it’s really a look at how military research is driving the development of artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies that are about to reshape the civilian world.
14. Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era (James Barrat)
Elon Musk recommends this book as one to read if you want to understand the future. This book will give you a solid understanding of where AI is at today, as well as the challenges and pitfalls it presents in the near future.
15. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Max Tegmark)
Written by an MIT professor, this book dares to look at all the radical ways advanced machine intelligence could reshape our world, our consciousness, and the universe as we know it.
