CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Ethagi, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the safe and ethical use of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) technologies, is announcing that its founder and managing director Erik A. Otto is releasing his new novel entitled Detonation. Mr. Otto plans to donate all profits from book sales to Ethagi in support of Ethagi’s mission. 

Detonation is an immersive, action-packed narrative that is a cautionary reflection on our own innovation-obsessed culture. It follows two societies that are connected, but centuries apart, and their struggle against a superintelligent machine. Detonation has been awarded a Kirkus Star from Kirkus Reviews:

“A highly entertaining and absorbing combination of philosophy and action featuring robustly individualized characters.”
“…a future world that vibrates with conflict and ideas.”
“…Otto’s reflections on hubris and warnings about artificial intelligence have a chilling plausibility.”

– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“My goal was to write a gripping narrative with strong characters,” Otto said. “But the book also exposes philosophical arguments about the risks associated with artificial intelligence that are unknown to most people. For those not yet willing to take on more rigorous non-fiction works like Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom or Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark, Detonation could be an engaging initiation.”

Mr. Otto has also penned a twenty page open letter on the existential risks of artificial general intelligence, available at the Ethagi website.  

Detonation is available on Amazon in Trade Paperback format in the US, Canada and Europe, and in ebook format at Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Google Play and Kobo stores. More information about Detonation and other works of fiction by Mr. Otto can be found at his author website, erik-a-otto.com.

About Ethagi

Ethagi is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the safe and ethical use of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) technologies. Ethagi believes advanced machine learning techniques could dramatically improve human productivity, quality of life and longevity, but public safety and inequity risks are currently underappreciated. For more information please visit ethagi.org, or follow us on twitter or linkedin.  

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SOURCE Ethagi