AI Valley

Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion-Dollar Race to Cash In on Artificial Intelligence

By: Gary Rivlin

Narrated by: Joe Knezevich

A veteran Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist shadows the top thinkers in the field of Artificial Intelligence, introducing the breakthroughs and developments that will change the way we live and work.

Artificial Intelligence has been “just around the corner” for decades, continually disappointing those who long believed in its potential. But now, with the emergence and growing use of ChatGPT, Gemini, and a rapidly multiplying number of other AI tools, many are wondering: Has AI’s moment finally arrived?

In AI Valley, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Rivlin brings us deep into the world of AI development in Silicon Valley. Over the course of more than a year, Rivlin closely follows founders and venture capitalists trying to capitalize on this AI moment. That includes LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, the legendary investor whom the Wall Street Journal once called, “the most connected person in Silicon Valley.”

Through Hoffman, Rivlin is granted access to a number of companies on the cutting-edge of AI research, such as Inflection AI, the company Hoffman cofounded in 2022, and OpenAI, the San Francisco-based startup that sparked it all with its release at the end of that year of ChatGPT. In addition to Hoffman, Rivlin introduces us to other AI experts, including OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman and Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of DeepMind, an early AI startup that Google bought for $650 million in 2014. Rivlin also brings readers inside Microsoft, Meta, Google and other tech giants scrambling to keep pace.

On this vast frontier, no one knows which of these companies will hit it big–or which will flame out spectacularly. In this riveting narrative marbled with familiar names such as Musk, Zuckerberg, and Gates, Rivlin chronicles breakthroughs as they happen, giving us a deep understanding of what’s around the corner in AI development. An adventure story full of drama and unforgettable personalities, AI Valley promises to be the definitive story for anyone seeking to understand the latest phase of world-changing discoveries and the minds behind them.

A dizzying account of the development of AI

I found this book very well written with lots of insights into the history of AI and the venture capitalists who have underwritten the development of this technology. This is not a book about how AI software works, however.

How long AI has been around and my missing its presence and profundity!

Very good historical AI development and well presented. The presenter was clear and, effective and enjoyable.

The amount of details of the history, news, and impactful founders.

This book explains the history, key players, locations, and founder in the AI space. A must read for anyone interested in technology or AI.

A set of disconnected stories

This book is a set of disconnected stories related to AI. Most of it is common knowledge already on the news. The author goes from topic to topic multiple times without establishing a clear connection. The phrase “Suleyman said” appears at least 50 times. It’s very repetitive.