Allen & Overy Luxembourg junior associate Charles Duro, pictured, recommends Garry Kasparov "Deep Thinking" Allen & Overy Luxembourg

Allen & Overy Luxembourg junior associate Charles Duro, pictured, recommends Garry Kasparov "Deep Thinking" Allen & Overy Luxembourg

This week Allen & Overy Luxembourg  junior associate Charles Duro fêtes the work of one of the world’s greatest chess players who, despite having been defeated at the game by a computer, explains why we should embrace artificial intelligence.

He writes about Garry Kasparov’s “Deep Thinking”:

“Garry Kasparov is known to be one of the greatest chess players of all time. He is also known to be the first chess world champion to have ever been defeated by a computer (IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997). In his book “Deep Thinking”, Kasparov discusses his painful, yet illuminating defeat by a machine in the early ages of artificial intelligence and his personal journey to come to terms with it.

One of the most inspiring messages in the book is Kasparov’s forward-thinking view that technological progress is an opportunity rather than a threat. Among many things, Kasparov criticises the general fear surrounding the ever-growing job losses to robots, harshly stating “Romanticising the loss of jobs to technology is little better than complaining that antibiotics put too many gravediggers out of work”.

Drawing on his personal experience of being outcompeted by a computer, he highlights the opportunities for mankind brought about by technological progress and attempts to reassure those who may be frightened. The author discusses how humans and computers should work together, arguing that “AI will help us to release human creativity. Humans won’t be redundant or replaced, they’ll be promoted.”

Not only is this book a great read for chess aficionados, but for everyone interested in an optimistic stance on what is yet to come in a world with artificial intelligence.”