Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI

A rich, narrative explanation of the mathematics that has brought us machine learning and the ongoing explosion of artificial intelligence

Machine learning systems are making life-altering decisions for us: approving mortgage loans, determining whether a tumour is cancerous, or deciding whether someone gets bail. They now influence discoveries in chemistry, biology and physics -- the study of genomes, extra-solar planets, even the intricacies of quantum systems.

We are living through a revolution in artificial intelligence that is not slowing down. This major shift is based on simple mathematics, some of which goes back centuries: linear algebra and calculus, the stuff of eighteenth-century mathematics. Indeed by the mid-1850s, a lot of the groundwork was all done. It took the development of computer science and the kindling of 1990s computer chips designed for video games to ignite the explosion of AI that we see today. In this enlightening book, Anil Ananthaswamy explains the fundamental maths behind AI, which suggests that the basics of natural and artificial intelligence might follow the same mathematical rules.

As Ananthaswamy resonantly concludes, to make the most of our most wondrous technologies we need to understand their profound limitations, the clues to which lie in the maths that makes AI possible.

About the Author

Anil Ananthaswamy is an award-winning science writer and former staff writer for New Scientist. He was a 2019-20 MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow. He has been a guest editor for the science writing program at UC, Santa Cruz. He is a feature editor for PNAS Front Matter. He writes for regularly for New Scientist, Quanta, Scientific American, PNAS Front Matter and Nature, and has contributed to Nautilus, Matter, The Wall Street Journal, and Discover. His book The Man Who Wasn’t There, was long-listed for the Pen/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.  His most recent book, Through Two Doors at Once was named one of Smithsonian's Favorite Books of 2018 and one of Forbes's 2018 Best Books About Astronomy, Physics and Mathematics.

Author Residence: Santa Cruz, CA

Author Hometown: Santa Cruz