The Coming Wave, a novel warning of the potential risks of AI by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, has caught the attention of students and professors at PNW.  

The New York Times said the best-selling book offers “an urgent warning of the unprecedented risks that AI and other fast-developing technologies pose to global order, and how we might contain them while we have the chance.”

But Kenneth Stone, a senior Business Management and Entrepreneurship major, believes the book is overly panicking about AI.

“The author is extremely knowledgeable,” said Stone. “However, when you dig deeper into the topics, the author speculates, generalizes, and fantasizes about the future. His style of predicting is similar to predicting the stock market. Good luck with that.

“The book painted a picture of the future saying, ‘There’s a wave that’s coming and it’s huge. There’s never been a wave like this before and you’ll be hard-pressed not to drown,’” he said. “It honestly reminded me of a disaster film, like 2012. It is nice having a top-down perspective of what is coming, but he could have toned down the theatrics.”

English professor Justin Ness agrees that Suleyman was catastrophizing. 

“I found the book to be looking at the worst possible scenario, and he is rather repetitive on that note,” said Ness. “He says that we need to act to prevent such catastrophes, even though it is almost impossible that we can stop it.”

Still, Ness said that students should care about the book.  

“It is useful for students to be aware of the evolving context in which AI is used,” he said. “This applies to essentially all current events, and students need to know how our world is changing.”