Supremacy

The astonishing, behind-the-scenes story of the race to perfect the greatest invention in human history, artificial intelligence, and the men, women and companies that seek to profit from it all.

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***SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024***

'Astonishing . . . [Olson has] exclusive access to a network of high-ranking sources' - Financial Times

'A riveting tale . . . Olson is a compelling storyteller' - New Scientist

From award-winning journalist Parmy Olson, Supremacy is the astonishing, untold, behind-the-scenes story of the battle between two AI companies, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the dangerous direction that they’re now going in.

Discover the never-before-told story of the ruthless shadow race between Microsoft and Google, as both compete to develop a mass-market AI while juggling existential questions of ethics, human progress and the future of the world as we know it.

When ChatGPT was released, the world changed overnight. Even as we all played with the new toy, a very real danger was quickly coming to light: that untested automations would undermine our way of life insidiously, sucking value out of our economy, replacing high-level creative jobs and enabling a new, terrifying era of disinformation.

It was never meant to be this way. The founders of the two companies behind the most advanced AIs in existence – Open AI (ChatGPT) and DeepMind (Bard) – started their journeys determined to solve humanity’s greatest problems. But they couldn’t develop their technologies without huge amounts of money – money that Microsoft and Google were more than happy to give them, in exchange for the most powerful seats at the table.

From award-winning journalist Parmy Olson, Supremacy is the astonishing, untold, behind-the-scenes story of the battle between two AI companies, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the dangerous direction that they’re now going in. Featuring a cast of larger-than-life characters, including Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Peter Thiel, Supremacy is a story of manipulation, exploitation, secrecy and of ruthless, relentless human progress – progress that will impact all of us for years to come.

'A clear and compelling read about one of the most consequential races in the world' - Madhumita Murgia, bestselling author of Code Dependent and AI Editor for The Financial Times

'Makes the topic of AI approachable and entertaining by telling the human stories of the people building AI companies. There is never a dull moment in this gripping book' - Arvind Narayanan, Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University