How AI works and what it means for us: the international bestseller now in English!

First published in Norway as Maskiner som tenker (Machines That Think), this book became the country’s best-selling nonfiction title of 2023, with more than 60,000 copies sold. Its German edition, Künstliche Intelligenz, quickly followed as a bestseller. Now available in English, physicist and AI researcher Inga Strümke’s groundbreaking work invites readers everywhere to explore one of the most important questions of our time: Where does computing stop and thinking begin?

With clarity, urgency, and a storyteller’s touch, Strümke traces the evolution of artificial intelligence, from the first chess-playing machines to today’s neural networks and language models, and reveals how it already shapes what we watch, read, and even write. She explains how AI works, why it matters, and what it means for us all, tackling critical issues of bias, misinformation, and accountability. Strümke also raises urgent questions of ethics and responsibility—who is accountable when AI fails?

Inga Strümke

Inga Strümke is a Norwegian physicist specializing in artificial intelligence and machine learning. She was born in 1989 in Gummersbach, Germany, and grew up in Narvik, Norway. Strümke holds a master's degree in theoretical physics from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and a doctorate in particle physics from the University of Bergen. She is currently an associate professor at NTNU.

Strümke is also known for her work in AI ethics and has received an award for science communication from the Norwegian Research Council. She published Maskiner som tenker in 2023. The book was recognized with the Brageprisen, a prestigious Norwegian literature prize.

Is AI the greatest opportunity of the century—or our downfall?

AI has the potential to cure diseases, fight climate change, and solve humanity’s toughest challenges. But it can also spread misinformation, reinforce inequality, and operate beyond our control.

Machines That Think doesn’t just explain how AI works—it asks how we should use it. Clear and compelling, this book shows why AI is the defining technology of our time and what its rise means for all of us.