Pan Macmillan South Africa, 2024, softcover, 215 pages, condition: new.
For the past decade, Arthur Goldstuck has had a front-row seat to witness the remarkable rise of AI across all sectors of business and society. As generative AI becomes a household phrase and sparks hopes and fears of machines augmenting or replacing human beings, this guide offers an invaluable overview of the past, present and future of AI.
The Hitchhikers Guide to AI is aimed at both beginners and those who consider themselves experienced or skilled at using AI. It draws on many years of direct access to global and regional leaders in using AI, from Africa to the Middle East to North America to Europe and Asia, and it provides unique perspectives on generative AI, as well as practical advice for using it. It is useful for consumers, academics, professionals and anyone in business who wants to get up to speed quickly and practically. It also entertains and inspires anyone who is curious about AI or already engaged in its possibilities. Need to understand or refine prompting? Youre in the right place. Need to prepare for the coming impact of AI on health, travel, education and business? This is the book for you.
Clearly, it is dawning on the business world that AI is not only about robots taking away jobs and taking over the world. More often, it is about running our businesses and our lives more efficiently. If you are remotely interested in AI, its potential and likely evolution going forward, as well as its impact on whatever sector you work in from business entrepreneurs to academics, finance, medical, legal, and even industrial automation this is the book for you. Arthur Goldstuck is the best tech expert and commentator in South Africa, and his weekly Sunday Times column is a must read. Here he has penned a no-nonsense guide to AI, with practical examples and advice. The book is structured to include general interest reading as well as content specifically for consumer, business, professional and technical audiences, all neatly arranged so you can easily dip in and out of the book. The writing is simple, making this a fast but invaluable read. There is a lot of hype, hyperbole, and hand-wringing about AI at the moment. Goldstuck strips all of that away and focuses on best-use cases for the technology (with caveats where needed.) He says: Theres just so much opportunity, because theres so much innovation, so much thinking and so many directions in which artificial intelligence can go.
Arthur Goldstuck is a South African journalist, media analyst and commentator on Information and Communications Technology, Internet and mobile communications and technologies. Goldstuck led early research into the size of the Internet user population and the extent of Web commerce in South Africa, which established trend lines for Internet growth in the country. Today Goldstuck heads the World Wide Worx research organization, and has led research into ICT issues like the impact of IT on small business, the role of mobile technologies in business and government and the technology challenges of the financial services sector.
Goldstuck is the author of, among other works, South Africas best-selling IT book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet, as well as The Art of Business on the Internet. He has written five books on South African urban legends, and has contributed as a writer to numerous South African and international publications, including The Times of London and Billboard. He was winner of the online category in the Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year awards for 2003, and was runner-up in the lifestyle category for 2002 and the business magazine category in 2004. He contributes to a number of South African publications on technology and business strategy issues, including the Radar column for African Communications magazine. He is editor of The Big Change, an electronic newsletter on business strategy in the high-tech economy, and of Gadget, the online consumer technology magazine. In 2007 Mail & Guardian invited Arthur Goldstuck to host his own blog on their Thought Leader service.
