The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future
by Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar, 2023
Reviewed by Linda Manney
Main Gist of the Book
In their 2023 book, The Coming Wave, Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, and Michael Bhaskar, best-selling author, provide a sobering description of current and future developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and comment on the political implications. In the last chapter, the authors also propose a detailed set of guidelines, from local to global in scope, which aim to reduce the risk of unconstrained AI systems to human communities.
Key Points of Discussion
Overall, the authors view the ongoing development of AI technologies as inevitable, but they make a strong case for regulating, on many levels, both the development and use of AI. As they point out, the potential misuse of AI, intentional or unintentional, could lead to widespread catastrophe on an unprecedented scale, such as AI empowered cyberattacks, automated wars or engineered pandemics.
The authors are especially concerned with potential developments in Artificial Generalized Intelligence (AGI), a type of artificial intelligence in the making that is capable of reaching and surpassing human-level performance across many complex tasks, and Synthetic Biology, a comprehensive set of procedures which enable scientists to read, edit and create new DNA sequences, and thereby redesign and create life forms. According to the authors, these are the technologies which will form the Coming Wave technology of the future. As the authors observe, AI is presently controlled by a few major corporations, rather than a group of government agencies: “Companies already control the largest clusters of AI processors, the best models, the most advanced quantum computers, and the overwhelming majority of robotics capacity.” (pg. 187).
If no controls are placed on the present development and use of AI technology, the authors foresee two possible overlapping scenarios in a near future time, perhaps two or three decades from now; both would place enormous strain on the existing social order and governance structures.
In the first scenario, huge amounts of power and profit would be concentrated under the direct control of major technology corporations. In such a world, mega-corporations could easily replace many of the functions of government structures and elected government officials, and would most likely use their power to further their own agenda, at the expense of the public good.
In the second possible scenario, the more ruthless leaders of nation-states could collect and centralize huge amounts of information for the surveillance and control of the constituents they govern, leading to the replacement of normal state functions with repressive authoritarian governance structure.
These two scenarios could also be overlapping, with mega-corporations and ruthless political leaders working in tandem and using AI technologies to amass control, support each other and promote their own agendas. In the current political climate, these two scenarios don’t seem that far-fetched.
The authors emphasize the urgent need for technologists and governments to start working together, now, to develop a comprehensive approach to control and contain AI technologies. Although no individual or nation has such a plan at the present time, the authors cite the European Union AI Act of 2023 as a big step in the right direction, even while noting that regional measures such as this are still inadequate. They also mention Joseph Biden’s AI Bill of Rights, implemented in 2022 by former President Joseph Biden to protect civil rights and promote democratic values in the development and use of AI technology.
What can the average non-technocratic citizen do?
1. Read The Coming Wave carefully. You may doubt the authors’ recommendations for governments to tax technologists or nation-states to work together cooperatively; you may dismiss their dystopian projections of swarm robots with shared “consciousness,” facial recognition technology, and the ability to learn and self-correct in a work environment. However, their descriptions of past technologies as well as current AI technologies are well informed and clearly written, and therefore deserve your close attention.
2. Make an effort to learn more about current and projected developments in AI technology, and support organized efforts to regulate the development and use of AI.
In January 2025, the Trump Administration issued Executive Order 14179, "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” which specifically revokes the Biden Administration’s Executive Order 14110 of October 30, 2023 “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.”
In particular, Trump’s Executive Order 14179 cancels out aspects of AI regulation in the USA that were in put in place under the Biden Administration. As compared to the Biden approach, which prioritized risk management and public safety, a major priority of the Trump Administration is to fast-track the construction of huge AI data centers which require massive amounts of water and electricity, intentionally bypassing environmental protections previously in effect https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf. (pgs. 14-16).
3. Register to vote and use your vote strategically. Whenever possible, use your vote to support those who work to regulate the development and use of AI, and challenge those who oppose AI regulation at the expense of public safety. The shape of our future depends on our proactive response right now.
Closing Thoughts
In the words of Suleyman and Bhaskar, “Make sure that technology is, from the start, adapted to people, to our lives and hopes. Adapted technologies are contained technologies. The most urgent task is not to vainly try to stop the wave of technology but to sculpt it to our needs.” (pg. 284)
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Linda Manney is the Thessaloniki Chapter Representative of Democrats Abroad Greece.