From Gutenberg to Google and on to AI

Book excerpt: The two great Western technological revolutions of the past, the invention of movable type in the fifteenth century and the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century, changed the course of economies and societies and radically altered how humans interacted with each other and their world. In this updated edition of From Gutenberg to Google, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler takes up a still unfolding transformational revolution in twenty-first century technology: artificial intelligence. Building on insights on connectivity developed in the previous edition, Wheeler describes the enormous potential of this fast-expanding and powerful technology and highlights the urgent need for governments across the globe to regulate its use, both to limit opportunities for harm and to engage its capabilities for good.