Review of The Age of Algorithms by Serge Abiteboul and Gilles Dowek

Abstract

This book is about algorithms and their enormous influence on people in the current age. Algorithms are precise sets of rules to solve problems. They are ubiquitous and have a great effect on the lives of contemporary people, primarily due to technological advancement. A common example is searching for information using an Internet search engine such as Google. This book is not technical in nature and was first published in French as Le Temps des Algorithmes, by ´ Editions Le Pommier in 2020. The authors Serge Abiteboul and Gilles Dowek are computer scientists, with Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), Rocquencourt and ´ Ecole Normale Sup´erieure, Paris respectively. They believe that algorithms have made life easier, nevertheless, they dread that algorithms may subjugate humans. This book is intended to serve as an eye-opener on the impact of algorithms on daily life.