5 books about AI to get you caught up in 2025

The AI landscape is evolving rapidly and it’s important to keep up. No one can afford to stay out of the loop on AI, so here are five new books to fill you in on the latest updates, concerns, and uses of this world-changing technology.

AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand

By Adam Brotman & Andy Sack

In AI First, you’ll hear from a who’s who of tech visionaries who spoke with the authors, including Sam Altman himself, Bill Gates, and Reid Hoffman, sharing how they’re thinking of the transition to the new reality. Listen to the Book Bite summary, read by authors Adam Brotman and Andy Sack, or view on Amazon.

The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want

By Emily Bender & Alex Hanna

A smart, incisive look at the technologies sold as artificial intelligence, the drawbacks and pitfalls of technology sold under this banner, and why it’s crucial to recognize the many ways in which AI hype covers for a small set of power-hungry actors at work and in the world. Listen to the Book Bite summary, read by authors Emily Bender and Alex Hanna, or view on Amazon.

More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity

By Adam Becker

How Silicon Valley’s heartless, baseless, and foolish obsessions—with escaping death, emergent AI tyrants, and limitless growth—pervert public discourse and distract us from real social problems. Listen to the Book Bite summary, read by author Adam Becker, or view on Amazon.

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

By Gary Rivlin

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. Listen to the Book Bite summary, read by author Gary Rivlin, or view on Amazon.

More Human: How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead

By Rasmus Hougaard & Jacqueline Carter

AI has the potential to transform leadership and the human experience of work—or to lead us into an automated and uninspiring work reality. Which one will it be? Listen to the Book Bite summary, read by coauthor Rasmus Hougaard, or view on Amazon.

This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.