Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

Brian Christian is an American author and researcher whose books explore the intersection of computer science, artificial intelligence, and human experience.

Brian Christian studied computer science and philosophy at Brown University before completing a graduate degree in poetry at the University of Washington — an unusual combination that shapes all his work. His books take ideas from mathematics and computer science and translate them into clear, human terms, with an attention to narrative and implication that purely technical writing rarely achieves.

Algorithms to Live By (2016), co-authored with cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths, argues that the algorithms computers use to solve classic problems — optimal stopping, the explore-exploit tradeoff, memory management — offer surprisingly practical guidance for human decision-making. The book was widely praised for the rigour and accessibility of its argument and became one of the best-selling popular science books of the decade.

The Alignment Problem (2020) is a more serious and demanding work: a comprehensive investigation into the challenge of building AI systems that do what humans actually want rather than what they technically specify. Christian spent years interviewing AI researchers and the book is the most thorough journalistic account of the field’s central safety challenge. Where Algorithms to Live By was charming and applicable, The Alignment Problem is sobering and essential.