Smarter Than Us

Why it’s on the list: Geoffrey Hinton’s first book for general readers, written with science journalist Patchen Barss. The first half explains how AI works for a non-technical reader; the second covers the many risks of superintelligence and what to do about them. The publisher calls it his long-awaited call to arms, arguing we can’t expect superintelligent machines to stay subservient. Out January 26, 2027 (Viking in the US, Allen Lane/Penguin in the UK).

Where I heard about it

• Geoffrey Hinton on X (Oct 16, 2026) — announcing the earlier release date.

Connections

• Penguin has moved up the… (tweet) — the announcement.
• AI Safety · Artificial Superintelligence.
• Neural Networks Are Already Clean (Nick Cammarata) — the optimistic interpretability case from the same week.