The Coming Wave cover art

The Coming Wave

AI, Power and Our Future

Preview

Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends April 30, 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £7.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Coming Wave

By: Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar
Narrated by: Mustafa Suleyman
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£7.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends April 30, 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

**A Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, Sept 2023**

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023**

AI. SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY. QUANTUM COMPUTING. Everything is about to change. This is the only book you need to understand this new world.

From the ultimate AI insider, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, part of Google.

Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.

None of us are prepared.

As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, part of Google, Mustafa Suleyman has been at the centre of this revolution. The coming decade, he argues, will be defined by this wave of powerful, fast-proliferating new technologies.

In The Coming Wave, Suleyman shows how these forces will create immense prosperity but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order. As our fragile governments sleepwalk into disaster, we face an existential dilemma: unprecedented harms on one side and the threat of overbearing surveillance on the other.

Can we forge a narrow path between catastrophe and dystopia?

This ground-breaking book from the ultimate AI insider establishes 'the containment problem' - the task of maintaining control over powerful technologies - as the essential challenge of our age.

©2023 Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Computer Science Future Studies Machine Theory & Artificial Intelligence Social Sciences Inspiring Thought-Provoking Robotics Surveillance

Listeners also enjoyed...

Scary Smart cover art
How They Broke Britain cover art
Impromptu cover art
AI Superpowers cover art
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning cover art
The Future Is Faster Than You Think cover art
BetweenBrains cover art
The Price of Tomorrow cover art
Our Final Invention cover art
The Inevitable cover art
Expand cover art
The Evil Twins of Technocracy and Transhumanism cover art
The Kill Chain cover art
Dark Future cover art
Deep Tech cover art
Apocalypse Never cover art

Critic reviews

'Fascinating, well-written, and important' Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens

'Deeply rewarding and consistently astonishing' Stephen Fry

'An excellent guide for navigating unprecedented times' Bill Gates

Featured article: Steven Bartlett recommends…


In the spirit of continuous learning we asked Steven to share with us the books he’s enjoyed and been inspired by. Covering psychology and health to business and technology, read on to discover Steven Bartlett’s top listening recommendations.

What listeners say about The Coming Wave

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    319
  • 4 Stars
    97
  • 3 Stars
    54
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    16
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    300
  • 4 Stars
    97
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    15
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    287
  • 4 Stars
    89
  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    23
  • 1 Stars
    20

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best listens this year.

This is a no holds barred study of the future of AI. It is incredibly detailed and yet presented in a way that is accessible to the average listener. It is both fascinating and terrifying and a must read for anyone interested in technology, politics, big commerce and the future of the human race.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Excellent listen. Highly recommended. Extremely relevant at this period in time with so much hype around A.I!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unique Experience and Perspective

Very few people in our generation will have gained this experience and perspective. A must read for anyone interested in designing a better future

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting and frightful.

This book tries to drive home the huge risks and the possible gains of AI. And after spending about ten chapters of painting a rather dark future, it spends the final ones trying to usher in a positive vibe and suggests some directions to wander for humanity to limit risks, and change the patterns of human history.
I am very impressed with the authors grasp of history and enjoy listening to examples and analogies. But this is not for the faint of heart.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting and realistic view of how AI will change our lives

Well written and researched. Kept my interest throughout. Technical yet accessible, it presented a well rounded view of the development of AI, its advantages and risks, and how humans can overcome concerns. Very honest account. Well read by the author, sometimes dropped his “t’s” from ends of words which sounded a bit like an affectation. But I enjoyed this very much. Thank you!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Important to read

One of the best book to explain the new era we are going to. Recommended to everybody!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good but a bit overlong for me

I work in tech and recognise many of the themes discussed. the author makes very plausible arguments and narration is good. however towards the end it started to drag a bit for me, particularly”part 3” and the author cranks up the hyperbole and negativity to max, this became a bit of a slog. even at 1.3x it is still a roughly 10h listen. Perhaps i should have fed it thru an AI summariser!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great insight into the future of AI

A really comprehensive overview of the next revolution and how technologies are converging to great opportunities and threats. The author deals with issues not often spoken about and does a great job at sharing a balanced view throughout

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

AI Opportunities and Consequences

Thoughtfull discussion on the opportunities and threats that AI represents. The book covers some complex subject matter explaining it clearly. The book was educational and enjoyable at the same time - which is quite an achievement.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Clear and informative

This provided a clear picture of the future, citing well from the past. The author reader was very engaging throughout.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!