Dozens of times every day, we interact with intelligent machines that are constantly learning from the wealth of data now available to them. These machines– from smartphones and talking robots to self-driving cars– are remaking the world of the twenty-first century in the same way that the steam engine remade the world of the nineteenth. In the face of all these changes, Nick Polson and James Scott believe that there is a simple idea worth keeping in mind. In order to understand the modern world and where it’s heading, you have to know a little bit of the mathematical language spoken by intelligent machines. This book will teach you that language, but in an unconventional way: through stories rather than mathematics. It explains how these technologies can help us overcome some of our built-in cognitive weaknesses, and give us all the chance to lead happier, healthier and more fulfilled lives.