Future Tense - by Martha Brockenbrough (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Human history has always been shaped by technology, but AI is like no technology that has come before it.

Unlike the wheel, combustion engines, or electricity, AI does the thing that humans do best: think. While AI hasn't reproduced the marvelously complex human brain, it has been able to accomplish astonishing things. AI has defeated our players at games like chess, Go, and Jeopardy!. It's learned to recognize objects and speech. It can create art and music. It's even allowed grieving people to feel as though they were talking with their dead loved ones.

On the flip side, it's put innocent people in jail, manipulated the emotions of social media users, and tricked people into believing untrue things.

In this non-fiction book for teens, acclaimed author and teacher Martha Brockenbrough guides readers through the development of this world-changing technology, exploring how AI has touched every corner of our world, including education, healthcare, work, politics, war, international relations, and even romance. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how artificial intelligence got here, how to make the best use of it, and how we can expect it to transform our lives.

Review Quotes

"Entertaining and accessible. . . A book every young person needs to read." --Beste F. Yuksel, Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco

"Clear, engaging, and passionate, Future Tense is a vital book for the present moment. Our civilization will be reshaped by the AI technologies Brockenbrough describes--and it is absolutely necessary that we recognize their roots, their limitations, and their power to transform our world, for the better and for the worse." --M.T. Anderson, author of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

"The future is not what you think it is," writes Brockenbrough, and, after reading this book, readers will understand that the future truly is not what we have been led to believe regarding artificial intelligence. The author's evenhanded approach sharply contrasts oft-quoted doomsayers or those who welcome AI as a -benevolent overseer. . . A fascinating and grounded look at technology and the need for human intelligence even as artificial intelligence grows smarter." --School Library Journal

"Readers will appreciate the text's impressive clarity in technical explanations and the author's obvious respect for young readers' intelligence. . . An important read [and] a valuable resource for classrooms, libraries, and forward-looking teens." --Kirkus Reviews

"With comprehensive research and source noting, Brockenbrough charts the history of artificial intelligence before diving into the contemporary picture of the technology and a deep analysis of the benefits and challenges it presents, particularly AI's role in the future lives and professional careers of today's teens. . . [W]ith a persuasive argument that "the impact of AI on humanity will largely depend on the wisdom, humility, and ethics of the people developing it," Brockenbrough invites teen readers to think critically about AI and its promise and heed the ways it's already a part of our everyday lives." --Booklist

"Martha Brockenbrough is a master of timely, thoroughly researched nonfiction for young people, and this accessible exploration of artificial intelligence is exactly the book that teen readers (and the rest of us) need right now." --LitHub

About the Author

Martha Brockenbrough is an award-winning and critically acclaimed author of fiction and nonfiction for young readers. She has won many awards and was a finalist for the prestigious Kirkus Prize. She's a faculty member and faculty co-chair at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and has worked as a journalist, a teacher, and the editor of MSN.com.