Out now · OR Books & Nation Books
The AI Industry's Trillion-Dollar Race to Replace Us — and How to Stop It
Is AI a bubble or humanity's last invention? An existing harm or existential threat? Obsolete cuts through the hype and false binaries to answer all the AI questions you have, while raising some you probably aren't prepared for.
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Early Praise
“The best book I’ve read on AI. It’s supremely timely, it takes no prisoners, and Sam Altman would hate it.”
Luke Kemp · author of Goliath's Curse
"A disquieting debut . . . provides enough evidence to make even enthusiastic AI boosters want to burn their electronics . . . an unsettling perspective on the perils of allowing AI to develop without oversight."
"One of the smartest thinkers there is on how, exactly, to conceptualize the technology's risks for humanity . . . he transcends the warring tribes that are making it hard to clearly apprehend all of the problems posed by frontier AI development."
VoxMarina Bolotnikova
"Obsolete does something both useful and challenging. It provides an illuminating snapshot of the current state of the debate on AI while proposing some sensible ideas on how to handle a technology that threatens to cause a lot of harm and entrench even greater inequality across the globe if left unchecked."
JacobinChristopher Webb
"The richest men on Earth are spending trillions to build machines that can replace you, and they've been telling everyone who will listen. Garrison Lovely listened. Incisive, urgent and necessary, Obsolete sounds the alarm about the oligarchs' dystopian plots and reminds us why we must recommit to our shared humanity."
Krystal Ballcohost of Breaking Points
"A masterpiece . . . If you worry about AI and want to know how we actually win, read it."
Alex BoresNew York Assembly Member and author of the RAISE Act
"This is easily the most important book in the world right now. I hope everyone reads it. It had a profound effect on me."
Greg Contiassociate professor of politics at Princeton; editor at large, Compact Magazine
"If you are worried about AI, this timely and engaging book tells you that you should be—because Silicon Valley has made choices that should indeed worry us all."
Daron AcemoğluNobel laureate in economics and author of Why Nations Fail
"Thoughtful, well-reasoned . . . and absolutely terrifying. I'm glad I read it. Obsolete is a crucial blueprint."
AJ Jacobsauthor of The Year of Living Biblically
"A well-researched exposé on Big Tech's quest for Universal Labor-Replacing Machines and the propaganda used to justify it."
Max Tegmarkprofessor of physics at MIT and author of Life 3.0
"Obsolete is funny, furious, and correct: Silicon Valley promised us tools, but is building replacements. Read it before your replacement does."
Roman V. Yampolskiyauthor of AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable
"Garrison Lovely is exactly what the left needs at this moment in technological history."
Robert Wrightauthor of Nonzero & Why Buddhism Is True
"An invaluable primer on AI's ins and outs, and an urgent warning about the threat its corporate boosterists' plans pose to democracy and civilization itself."
Luke Savageauthor of The Dead Center
"Garrison Lovely is one of our best researchers and thinkers. His work is an antidote to fuzzy thinking, essential for understanding what the real risks of AI are and how they can be dealt with effectively."
Nathan Robinsoneditor of Current Affairs
"A deeply researched cutting-edge exposition of the grim situation humanity finds itself in with respect to AI, and what we can do about it . . . even-handed while expressing a strong and correct view of what is happening."
Anthony Aguirretheoretical physicist; executive director, Future of Life Institute
The Book
The richest companies in history are racing to build a machine that replaces human labor — all of it. And, as this provocative new book insists, the only surefire way they won't succeed is if we stop them.
Many today don't get further than seeing AI as a boondoggle — a new shiny object for techno-capitalists to sink their cash into as we barrel toward climate disaster. Obsolete takes those concerns seriously, but implores us to keep our eye on the ball: the attempt to render you obsolete.
The scale of their project has no real precedent. What we think of as big — the Gilded Age monopolies, the Manhattan Project, the Apollo program — doesn't even come close to capturing its size. Almost none of us want this vast transformation to succeed. Yet we're letting it proceed virtually unabated. Why? Because we don't know it's happening, we don't believe it will work, or we don't think we can stop it. Obsolete takes on all three.
AI expert and journalist Garrison Lovely's debut is a refreshing reset on an AI debate where basically everyone is getting some big things wrong. With deep access to top researchers, advocates, and industry insiders, Obsolete offers a new way to think about the technology — and a plan for deciding its future democratically.
The Author
Photo: Min Goodman-Cheng
How You Can Help
If you believe in what Obsolete is trying to do and want to go the extra mile, here are some ways you can help.