'I wish it was science fiction, but I know it's not' Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype 'If you read just one book that makes you confront scary high-tech realities that we'll soon have no choice but to address, make it this one' Washington Post 'The best book yet written on the most important problem of the twenty-first century' Luke Muehlhauser, Executive Director, Machine Intelligence Research Institute 'Science fiction has long explored the implications of humanlike machines, but Barrat's thoughtful treatment adds a dose of reality' Science News Corporations and government agencies around the world have for years been pouring billions into achieving AI's Holy Grail - human-level intelligence. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful, and more alien than we can imagine. First published ten years ago, Our Final Invention predicted much of the artificial 'intel