The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits)

Author:   Maximilian Kasy
Publisher:   The University of Chicago Press
ISBN:  

9780226839530


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   04 November 2025
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

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The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits)


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Full Product Details

Author:   Maximilian Kasy
Publisher:   The University of Chicago Press
Imprint:   University of Chicago Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.399kg
ISBN:  

9780226839530


ISBN 10:   0226839532
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   04 November 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

Table of Contents

Preface Part I. Introduction 1. The Story of Humans Versus Machines 2. What the Old Story Misses 3. What This Book Does Part II. How AI Works 4. What Is Artificial Intelligence? 5. Supervised Learning 6. Overfitting and Underfitting 7. Deep Learning 8. The Exploration/Exploitation Trade-Off 9. Key Ideas to Remember Part III. Machine Power 10. Social Welfare 11. The Means of Prediction 12. Agents of Change 13. Ideological Obfuscation Part IV. Regulating Algorithms 14. Value Alignment 15. Privacy 16. Automation 17. Fairness 18. Explainability Part V. Old Problems, New Challenges 19. The Ancient Questions Behind AI 20. Toward Democratic Control of the Means of Prediction References     Index

Reviews

“AI will solve the problems its owners want solved. Kasy’s book shows how. But its greater contribution is cutting through the complexities of the subject to illustrate the necessity and feasibility of democratic control over the means of prediction: the data, hardware, technical expertise, and energy that make AI possible. A simple but powerful message—and a fantastic book.”  -- Dani Rodrik, Harvard University


“AI will solve the problems its owners want solved. Kasy’s book shows how. But its greater contribution is cutting through the complexities of the subject to illustrate the necessity and feasibility of democratic control over the means of prediction: the data, hardware, technical expertise, and energy that make AI possible. A simple but powerful message—and a fantastic book.”  -- Dani Rodrik, Harvard University ""This bold and accessible book reminds us that we are not in a conflict between humans and machines, but between power and the public interest."" -- Kate Crawford, author of Atlas of AI “The future of AI, including its worst-case scenarios, will not be determined by the technology itself. It will be determined by our choices and the institutions that govern how AI will develop, including who it serves and who it harms. The Means of Prediction provides an excellent introduction to how power struggles and ideologies are intertwined with technology, and how the current trajectory will likely lead to ruin rather than abundance.” -- Daron Acemoglu, author of Why Nations Fail and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics


Author Information

Maximilian Kasy is professor of economics at the University of Oxford; previously he was an associate professor of economics at Harvard University. His research focuses on machine learning and the social impact of AI.  

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