The Basilisk Stare - by Daniel Susskind (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Two brilliant young thinkers meet at Oxford. Years later, one disappears--just as he prepares to launch a powerful and secretive new AI system.

As students they were inseparable. But their lives have drifted apart. One remains in the cloistered world of academic ideas. The other, Oren Senesh, seeks out the dazzling promise of big tech. Years later, Oren is the driving force behind QuantumMind, one of the world's leading AI companies.

Then, suddenly, Oren simply vanishes in a cloud of controversy. But his old friend cannot square the man he once knew--brilliant, serious, loyal--with the lurid accusations that surround his disappearance. He sets out to find the truth.

As his search unfolds--a search which takes him to the dark frontiers of AI and beyond--the lines begin to blur between paranoia and insight, madness and reason, fiction and reality.

What happened to Oren? What did he see? And what does it mean for the future of humanity?

About the Author

Daniel Susskind is a writer and economist who explores the impact of technology, and particularly AI, on work and society. He is the Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, and a Digital Fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Previously, he worked in various roles in the British Government--in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and in the Cabinet Office. He lives in the United Kingdom.