Erich Elsen is a Principal Research Scientist at Databricks, a former DeepMind researcher (co-author of the Chinchilla scaling laws), and co-founder of Adept, an AI unicorn. He is seeking representation for Arithmetic Is All You Need: The Human Story of Computer Intelligence, a nonfiction book about how 4,000 years of accelerating arithmetic led directly to modern AI.
The book follows a single idea: faster arithmetic enables better prediction. From Babylonian astronomical tables to Kepler’s calculations to modern GPUs, each leap in computation unlocked new predictive capabilities—culminating in machine intelligence.
In its final chapters, the book examines the present: what it means for our behavior to be predicted and optimized by machines, and whether all predictions should be made, even when they are accurate.
For readers of The Information, Chip War, and The Coming Wave.