How to Make AI Useful

We’ve heard it all before: AI will upend industries, kill jobs and remake everything from healthcare to art. But between the hype and the hand-wringing lies a simpler, more pressing question: Is AI actually useful? And if so, useful for what, and for whom? In How to Make AI Useful, MIT researcher Dr Bryan Reimer and Swedish futurologist Magnus Lindkvist cut through the noise. Blending decades of research, trendspotting and hands-on experience, they chart AI’s journey from dazzling gimmick to disruptive force – and now to indispensable tool. This isn’t another book about robot overlords or utopian tech dreams. Instead, it’s a rough guide to AI’s messy middle – the phase where machines meet human complexity. From automating the tedious to amplifying creativity, Reimer and Lindkvist show how to harness AI’s potential for real progress, long after today’s bubble bursts

DR BRYAN REIMER is a Research Scientist at MIT and a global expert on the intersection of AI, technology, human behaviour, mobility and public policy. With over 300 publications and advisory roles spanning government and industry, he’s spent over two decades at the intersection of complex technology and human-centred solutions. MAGNUS LINDKVIST is a Swedish futurologist and trendspotter known for blending insights from business, science and the arts to challenge how we think about the future. A sought-after global speaker and author of multiple books, he brings a fox’s curiosity to a world of hedgehog predictions.