Artificial Intelligence is the subject of this collection of 12 illuminating, funny and provocative essays. Drawing on her years of thinking and reading about AI in its bewildering manifestations, the author looks to history, religion, myth, literature, politics – and computer science – to help us understand the radical changes that are happening now and the implications for the way we live and love. With wit, compassion and curiosity, she tackles topics from the algorithms that data-dossier your whole life to the weirdness of backing up your brain.

Claire Armitstead is associate editor at the Guardian.

“Briskly and breezily, 12 Bytes joins the dots in a neglected narrative of female scientists, visionaries and code-breakers” – Observer