Coexisting with AI: Work, Love, and Play in a Changing World

Is AI a threat, an opportunity, or an overhyped nothing-burger? Does it create risks that are relevant to everyday people just trying to raise their kids, get through a workday, go to school, or run a household? Does AI represent an opportunity for business leaders negotiating ferociously competitive markets?

Coexisting with AI: Work, Love, and Play in a Changing World, by Kay Firth-Butterfield, CEO of Good Tech Advisory, former inaugural Head of AI at the World Economic Forum and the world’s first Chief AI Ethics Officer, provides a comprehensive roadmap for navigating this technological revolution. The author draws on decades of experience in AI governance and ethics as she tackles the most pressing questions about AI’s role in our lives. She offers practical guidance for people and companies hoping to harness AI’s potential while mitigating the significant and novel risks it creates.

The book takes readers on a journey through every life stage, examining AI’s impact on them from childhood through old age. Firth-Butterfield explores AI’s capacity to solve humanity’s greatest challenges―from combating human trafficking to advancing medical break-throughs. She also demystifies complex concepts, explaining AI and chatbots in accessible language while addressing critical issues raised by AI’s use in business, politics, warfare, creativity, and investing.

Coexisting with AI is essential reading for all decision-makers, professionals adapting to AI-augmented workplaces, business and governmental leaders making strategic decisions about AI implementation, parents guiding children through a technology-saturated world, and anyone hoping to better understand how AI will shape our collective future. It bridges the gap between technical know-how and real-world impact, offering valuable insights relevant to everyone from C-suite executives at global enterprises to everyday people doing their best to navigate a world that’s changing ever more quickly.

Praise for COEXISTING WITH AI

“With her rare depth of insight into both the human spirit and the living planet―and her clear-eyed understanding of the responsibilities we bear with AI―Kay is a phenomenal guide. This book doesn’t just inform; it opens a space for each of us to wrestle with the profound question of how intelligence, both human and artificial, will shape every stage of our lives. It is an invitation: to join the conversation, to co-author the future we hand to our families, to our societies, and to the Earth itself.”
―AZA RASKIN, Architect and principal interviewee of the award-winning film The Social Dilemma; Co-Founder of the Earth Species Project and Center for Humane Technology; and Inventor of the Infinite Scroll

“A brilliant and timely intervention that rightly focuses on the vast and already unfolding societal challenges of AI. Every serious leader should read and apply the insights gathered here, if they want to remain a leader in a future shaped by a new type of intelligence.”
―DEX HUNTER-TORRICKE, Policy Fellow at Fathom.AI and former advisor to Eric Schmidt, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk

“It’s of the utmost importance that everyone understands how AI is used, and will be used, in their lives. This book will help them do so and, importantly, enable them to join the necessary debate about how AI impacts our future.”
―BLAKE PIERSON, Co-Founder of Fathom.AI, former GM at Opendoor, and Co-Founder/CEO at Lovely (now Rentpath)

“Every parent, educator and policymaker should grasp the profound influence AI already has on children, and how it will shape their future. This insightful book, with clarity and depth, reveals the invisible yet powerful ways AI is reshaping childhood. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about a child’s well-being.”
―CECILE APTEL, Deputy Director, UNICEF; Former Chief of Rule of Law & Democracy at the United Nations; Senior Legal Policy Advisor to UN High Commissioner on Human Rights; and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard University

“During the many public discussions of the risks and benefits of AI, there is little on Lethal Autonomous Weapons outside the military. This would indicate that the general public have been unable to understand and consider the impact of this technology. Kay Firth-Butterfield does a great job of introducing the conversations which must be held as we enter a new era of warfare.”
―JOHN D. BUTLER, CBE, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)

KAY FIRTH-BUTTERFIELD is CEO of Good Tech Advisory and former inaugural Head of AI at the World Economic Forum. She was the world’s first Chief AI Ethics Officer in 2014. A Barrister, former Judge, and Professor, she is one of the world’s foremost experts on AI governance and how to transform organizations with AI wisely and profitably. She has a slew of awards for her work including being a TIME 100 Impact winner and Forbes 50 over 50 awardee. She is passionate about changing the narrative―this is the Human Age not the AI Age! With this book she invites you to co-author our Human future.