AI: The Hunt For Intelligence: Beyond the Hype and Fear

Everyone says AI is intelligent. This book politely disagrees — and shows why that’s actually the best news you’ll hear all year. In The Hunt for Intelligence, consultant and PhD-level computer scientist Sylvain Liège takes you on a clear-eyed, hype-free journey through how modern AI really works — no maths degree required. Across 17 clear chapters you will discover, step by step: Where the dream of artificial beings began — from ancient myths (Talos, Golem) to today’s robots How the human brain inspired artificial neural networks What the mathematics behind AI is really doing (explained simply, never superficially) How machines actually learn, improve, and make predictions The inner workings of deep learning, Large Language Models, and generative AI How systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Grok really produce their outputs Why Large Language Models are essentially extremely expensive autocomplete on steroids A simple “edible food smell detector” that exposes every major weakness of current AI still has (overfitting, bias, hallucinations…) Why the gap between appearing intelligent and being intelligent remains enormous Why true AGI is much further away than the headlines claim — and why that’s perfectly okay Current limits, promising research directions, and realistic timelines A full ethics chapter written entirely by an AI system — so you can judge its capabilities for yourself Written entirely by a human (except one chapter, on purpose), this is the rare AI book that treats you like an adult: zero doom, zero blind optimism, just clarity and rigour. If you lead teams, run a business, or simply want to understand what today’s AI can and cannot do, this book gives you the solid foundation you need to use it profitably — without falling for the headlines. “No hype. No fear. Just the truth about intelligence — human and artificial.” Finally, an AI book that treats readers like adults. View Less