Today’s artificial intelligence systems are miracles of modern engineering. They can drive cars, recognize faces, translate languages, and enable us to talk to our smartphones. This amazing progress leads many of us to wonder where it will all end. Will intelligent robots usurp all our jobs or take over the world? This book separates the facts from the tropes of apocalyptic science fiction and explains •\thow AI really works in simple terms and why it cannot evolve into the AI of science fiction lore; •\tthe groundbreaking AI technologies that do exist, including facial recognition, self-driving cars, machine translation, deepfakes, and many others; •\tthe crucial areas where we will need to adopt new laws and policies in order to counter threats to our safety and personal freedoms resulting from the widespread use of AI. So although we don’t have to worry about evil robots rising to power and turning us into pets—and we probably never will—artificial intelligence is here to stay, and we must learn to separate fact from fiction and embrace how this amazing technology enhances our world.