Human Compatible cover art

Human Compatible

AI and the Problem of Control

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/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.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Human Compatible

By: Stuart Russell
Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Human Compatible by Stuart Russell.

Creating superior intelligence would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, according to the world's pre-eminent AI expert, it could also be the last. In this groundbreaking book on the biggest question facing humanity, Stuart Russell explains why he has come to consider his own discipline an existential threat to his own species, and lays out how we can change course before it's too late. There is no one better placed to assess the promise and perils of the dominant technology of the future than Russell, who has spent decades at the forefront of AI research.

Through brilliant analogies and crisp, lucid prose, he explains how AI actually works, how it has an enormous capacity to improve our lives - but why we must ensure that we never lose control of machines more powerful than we are. Here Russell shows how we can avert the worst threats by reshaping the foundations of AI to guarantee that machines pursue our objectives, not theirs.

Profound, urgent and visionary, Human Compatible is the one book everyone needs to listen to understand a future that is coming sooner than we think.

©2019 Stuart Russell (P)2019 Penguin Audio Computer Science Future Studies History & Culture Machine Theory & Artificial Intelligence Social Sciences Technology & Society Technology Artificial Intelligence Robotics Data Science Machine Learning

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Superintelligence cover art
The Big Picture cover art
Possible Minds cover art
The Alignment Problem cover art
Rebooting AI cover art
Artificial Intelligence and You cover art
Democracy and Its Crisis cover art
Prediction Machines cover art
AI Superpowers cover art
Crisis of Control: How Artificial SuperIntelligences May Destroy or Save the Human Race cover art
Doing AI cover art
The Singularity Principles cover art
Lying cover art
Atlas of AI cover art
The Warrior, the Strategist and You cover art
How to Be a Founder cover art

Critic reviews

Surely the most important book on AI this year. (Ian Sample)
A brilliantly clear and fascinating exposition of the history of computing thus far, and how very difficult true AI will be to build. (Steven Poole)
Fascinating and significant. (James McConnachie)
All stars
Most relevant
Engaging, easy to follow, and very well read. This audiobook gives a good overview of AI and the challenges ahead considering human uncertainty

Nice to listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book contains both technological explanations and philosophical arguments about AI. I wouldn’t say all of them are easy to understand, but it’s definitely worth reading to gain an overall view of the current state of AI and its future potential.

Comprehensive and entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A compelling exploration of why AI designers are deeply concerned about the future of artificial intelligence. I picked up the book to understand these fears, and it more than delivered—clarifying not just the existential risks but also the growing use of AI to displace jobs, tighten control, and power flawed defense systems. Stuart Russell’s argument for rethinking AI’s objectives is persuasive, and the narration was first class.

A Clear and Eye-Opening Look at AI’s Risks and Future

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book - good balance of accessible and informative. Narrator tone and intonation often unsuitable and distracting though. Incorrect/misleading word emphasis sometimes makes sentences difficult to follow/understand, or changes their meaning entirely. You get used to it. And one or two amusing passages

Enjoyable, entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent introduction to the topic. Flawless narration. I recommend “The Alignment Problem” for further reading.

Solid work but the deep insights are few and far between

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews