The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future: The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate AI insider

The Coming Wave is a fascinating and thought-provoking look at the rapid rise of powerful technologies like AI and synthetic biology. Mustafa Suleyman, with his deep experience in tech, explains how these tools are developing faster than our ability to control them—and why that matters for everyone. What I loved most is how the book strikes a balance between excitement and caution. It’s not fearmongering, but it makes a strong case for why we need to act now to make sure these technologies serve humanity, not the other way around. His idea of the “containment problem” really sticks with you—it’s all about how we manage these world-changing tools before they manage us. This is a smart, accessible read that blends tech, ethics, and policy in a way that feels urgent but hopeful.

It’s a very good book. Interesting, enlightening, at times thoroughly terrifying, and I would recommend to anyone with any interest in the subject matter (which is to say should be all of us). But my goodness does it repeat itself. Over and over and over the same key points, which I found exhausting. Do read, it’s very good, but be prepared to feel a bit bludgeoned a bit (maybe that was the intention).

The book is of exceptional merit, fascinating and awe-inspiring in equal measure. Two modern technologies, in particular artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology pose immense threats and their containment is compelling albeit virtually impossible to achieve. Until recently, the history of technology could be encapsulated in a single phrase: humanity's quest to manipulate atoms. From fire to stone tools, Agriculture to the Industrial Revolution, to internal combustion engine, electricity to aviation, an unfolding process in which our species has slowly extended its control over atoms. Then, starting in the mid-twentieth century, technology began to operate at a higher level of abstraction. At the heart of this shift was the realization that information is a core property of the universe. It can be encoded in a binary format and is, in the form of DNA, at the core of how life operates. First bits and then increasingly genes supplanted atoms as the building blocks of invention. The coming wave of technology is built primarily on two general- purpose technologies capable of operating at the grandest and most granular levels alike: AI and synthetic biology. In other words, technology is undergoing a phase transition. No longer a tool, it is going to engineer life and rival - and surpass - our own intelligence. AI is enabling us to replicate speech and language, vision, and reasoning. Foundational breakthroughs in synthetic biology have enabled us to sequence, modify, and now print DNA. The coming wave is characterized by a set of four intrinsic features compounding the problem of containment (containment is the overarching ability to control, limit, and, if need be, close down technologies at any stage of their development or deployment. It means, in some circumstances, the ability to stop a technology from proliferating in the first place, checking the ripple of unintended consequences). First among them is a hugely 'asymmetric' impact. New technologies create previously unthinkable vulnerabilities and pressure points against seemingly dominant powers. Second, they are developing fast, a kind of 'hyper-evolution', iterating, improving, and breaking into new areas with incredible speed. Third, they are often (omni-use); that is they can be used for many different purposes. And, fourth, they increasingly have a degree of (autonomy) beyond any previous technology. In order to have a chance of containing the coming technological wave, the author suggests a set of interlinked and mutually reinforcing of technical, cultural, legal, and political mechanisms for maintaining control of technology during a period of exponential change; an architecture to the task of containing what would have once been centuries or millennia of technological change, happening now in a matter of years or even months, where consequences ricochet around the world in seconds. Finally, we have to realize that safety in the context of the coming wave is not somewhere we arrive but something that must be continually and proactively enacted. Containment is not a resting place. It is a narrow and never ending path.

This book gives good insights for those new or not in the tech industry. Everybody else will find little new in this book. Additional, the book is well researched. However, the level of repetitiveness is tedious. Furthermore the book stays at the surface and doesn’t really get into matter. The biggest issue with this book: I can’t escape the feeling that this book is written by another well off tech bro -who made his money with AI- now all of a sudden coming to warn us about job displacement and doom&gloom caused by AI. It feel disingenuous and hollow.

A powerful book - thought-provoking and challenging. I dare you to read it.

Very interesting.Its a longbread as print is very small.

IMHO this book should be read by everyone who has an interest in the future, particularly those who have young children, because AI is making our current education systems unfit for purpose, and it's also going to dramatically affect the world of work, in fact it already has for some professions. Some of the predictions in the book may seem far fetched, but if anyone knows how AI is going to evolve and how powerful it will become, it's the author who is one of the founders of AI company, Deep Mind, who is now the CEO of Microsoft AI. The book is well written and begins by charting the technological waves throughout human history, and how they changed the world we live in. This helps understand how this technological revolution is different. For the first time we are entering an 'industrial' revolution that will impact highly paid, professional jobs, and while it will probably result in new jobs, like previous industrial revolutions, it will be far fewer that the number of jobs that disappear - actually the jobs won't disappear as such, they will simply be performed by far fewer people whose productivity has been amplified by AI, at least in the short term! Unfortunately, it is hard not to develop a sense of foreboding while reading this book, but I believe it is better that people fully understand what's coming, especially for the sake of their children.

Everyone should read this book! AI is here to stay and it is absolutely critical that we understand where it is coming from and what the (near) future holds in store. The Coming Wave is very well documented, extremely informative and profoundly thought-provoking (disturbingly so at times). And it's also beautifully written, so it's a joy to read. I abolutely recommend it.

I don’t know what is going on with ordering books lately. They are coming dirty and scratched… this came with bird waste on it and it was not clean at all I had to through away the cover…

For someone not involved in the world of AI, the book was very enlightening.

The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future** by Mustafa Suleyman offers a clear, insightful look at how emerging technologies are reshaping society. Suleyman combines deep technical understanding with ethical reflection, showing both the opportunities and risks of the AI revolution. It’s a well-balanced and thought-provoking read that challenges us to prepare responsibly for a rapidly changing future.

Os autores se esmeraram em proporcionar ao leitor uma análise realmente multifacetada do que realmente está por trás de tecnologias convergentes, onde, sem dúvida alguma a IA tem uma espécie de papel central, como indutor de ouras como as biotecnologias e computação quântica. Apesar do cenário meticulosamente construído de forma aterradora em dados momentos, considero essencial conhecer a grande sobreposição de ondas tecnoeconômicas (ao estilo Carlota Perez) que estão por erodir ainda mais, as fronteiras das nações, privacidade e democratização do acesso a tecnologias com potencial tão profundo. Não é um livro de tecnicalidades. Vale a pena, apesar de soar um pouco repetitivo no argumento global do livro e de poder ser percebido como um continuum do livro do fórum econômico mundial que toca no mesmo diapasão.

Aviso al lector desprevenido. Este es un gran libro, pero no es una novela. Es un libro lleno de información y pensamientos fundamentales sobre todo el desarrollo de Inteligencia Artificial, pero su lectura en ocasiones es ardua. Está bien escrito, informativo y con lenguaje comprensible. Tiene mucha información, explicada fácil. Muy buena explicación sobre cómo está evolucionando la tecnología, los problemas que se vienen por delante, la evolución previsible de AI, los peligros que trae y las posibilidades de control. Aunque está bien escrito, lo está en un lenguaje corporativo, lo que lo hace serio, pero no siempre atrapante.