We live in strange times. A machine plays the strategy game Go better than any human; upstarts like Apple and Google destroy industry stalwarts such as Nokia; ideas from the crowd are repeatedly more innovative than corporate research labs.MIT’s Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson know what it takes to master this digital-powered shift: we must rethink the integration of minds and machines, of products and platforms, and of the core and the crowd. In all three cases, the balance now favors the second element of the pair, with massive implications for how we run our companies and live our lives.In the tradition of agenda-setting classics like Clay Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma, McAfee and Brynjolfsson deliver both a penetrating analysis of a new world and a toolkit for thriving in it. For startups and established businesses, or for anyone interested in what the future holds, Machine, Platform, Crowd is essential reading.
"Machine, Platform, Crowd is a forward-looking take on how business will interact with artificial intelligence and what that will mean for the transformation of industries."
--The New York Times
"For startups and established businesses, or for anyone interested in what the future holds, Machine, Platform, Crowd is essential reading."
--The Gentleman's Journal
"For an astute romp through important digital trends, "Machine, Platform, Crowd" is hard to beat."
--The Economist
"This is a clear and crisply written account of machine intelligence, big data and the sharing economy."
--Financial Times, FT business books of the month: June 2017
"Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson...[use] their deep knowledge of the business and technology sectors to build a detailed, cogent and conversational guide to where we are and where we are going. The story is warmly and richly told, using footnotes approaching a third of a page in length when things get really exciting, and amply supported by notes, references and links. This book is in many senses a primer, a thorough grounding for the digital warrior in the driving forces of the 21st-century economy."
--Times Higher Education
In his new book, best-seller author Andrew McAfee...warns against demonizing artificial intelligence."
--Handelsblatt
"[Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson] are eloquent and informed. They don't think humans will be obsolete, but they also don't pretend the solutions are simple. This is a long and complex book, but it is important."
--People Management
"Machine Platform Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future is the most practical of the authors' excursions yet."
--Bloomberg BusinessWeek
"Even Silicon Valley is surprised by the speed and scope of change today. The best way to stay on top of it is to understand the principles that will endure even as so much gets disrupted. This book is the best explanation of those principles out there."
--Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, executive chairman of Alphabet, Inc.
"On their own, AI, platforms, and crowds are all transformative forces. That they're evolving in parallel means we're beginning to experience a new era of networked disruption, where productive but disorienting change becomes the status quo. For citizens, entrepreneurs, companies, and governments that want to successfully navigate this new world, the first step lies in finding reliable and prescient guides. Andrew and Erik are two of the best."
--Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock Partners, cofounder of LinkedIn
"The digital revolution we're entering can be unsettling, but McAfee and Brynjolfsson show how these incredibly powerful technologies will make our choices more important than ever. Machine, Platform, Crowd is a road map for leaders to make wise choices as they navigate this new world."
--Arianna Huffington, , former president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group