The Infinity Machine by Sebastian Mallaby review - the story of the man who changed the world
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A book review of Sebastian Mallaby's 'The Infinity Machine' criticizes its uncritical embrace of AI hype and ornate prose while detailing the life and achievements of DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to AGI pioneer.
Summary
This review of Sebastian Mallaby's 'The Infinity Machine' examines the life and career of AI pioneer Demis Hassabis, highlighting DeepMind's landmark 2016 victory with AlphaGo over Go champion Lee Se-dol. The book details Hassabis's youth as a chess prodigy, his academic journey through neuroscience, and the founding of DeepMind, which attracted investment for its ambitious pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The reviewer criticizes Mallaby's prose, finds his engagement with AI hype to be uncritical, and contends that the book overstates Hassabis's philosophical contributions while overlooking significant achievements like the Nobel Prize for protein structure prediction. Ultimately, the review suggests the book fails to critically dissect the speculative narratives dominating the AI industry.
Highlights
- The review discusses Sebastian Mallaby's book 'The Infinity Machine,' which chronicles the journey of AI pioneer Demis Hassabis.
- A key event highlighted is DeepMind's AlphaGo defeating Go world champion Lee Se-dol in 2016, a match watched by over 200 million globally, signaling a major AI achievement.
- Hassabis's early life is detailed, including his mother's humble origins in Singapore and his own prodigious talent in chess from a young age, becoming a master at 13.
- The intensely competitive and pressured environment of his youth chess career is noted, involving a demanding father.
- Hassabis's career path included working at Bullfrog games, studying at Cambridge, founding a game studio, and completing a PhD in neuroscience.
- He co-founded the artificial intelligence research company DeepMind in 2010 with Mustafa Suleyman and Shane Legg.
- DeepMind secured investment from figures like Peter Thiel, amid the ambitious pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
- The book touches on the speculative nature of tech finance and the pursuit of AGI, with investors viewing it as 'finding God's algorithm.'
- The reviewer criticizes Mallaby for failing to engage critically with the hype surrounding AI and its potential transformations, questioning the comparison to the advent of abstract thought.
- Mallaby's prose is described as 'tortuous and intrusive,' with an excessive use of dialogue tags.
- Hassabis's philosophical statements, such as equating science with 'reading the mind of God,' are presented by the reviewer as hedging and less profound.
- The review questions Mallaby's comparative judgments, particularly referencing the association between Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein.
- Hassabis is portrayed as an 'underwhelming protagonist' in the book, with the focus often on mundane aspects of running a tech startup.
- The reviewer highlights Hassabis's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for predicting protein structures as a significant, life-changing achievement that is overshadowed by the book's focus on hype.
- Mallaby is accused of mistaking Hassabis's intelligence in computing for general brilliance across all domains.
- The review concludes that the book fails to critically assess the grand claims and speculative hype prevalent in the AI industry.
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