In this book, we are invited to participate in an exciting journey of co-discovery of artificial intelligence, using terms that are both understandable and scientifically rigorous.

Fundamental concepts of artificial intelligence will unfold before us with simplicity, revealing the ways in which machines learn, as well as where and how they contribute to aspects of our lives. We will discuss artificial intelligence in the arts, in the theoretical and natural sciences, in industry and education, as well as in a plethora of other fields of knowledge and action.

We will provide a wealth of technical and non-technical references, for both the computer scientist and the lay reader, outlining an astonishing horizon that opens up with the advent of artificial intelligence.

Through a discreet demystification, the book will ground expectations regarding artificial intelligence, while not diminishing our enthusiasm for the achievements in the field. It will also debunk irrational fears and entertain with the heavily advertised—and particularly distorted—stories about intelligent machines today and tomorrow.

In the final chapters, the book will attempt to capture the developments in the field of artificial intelligence in Greece and the world today, a today that lays the foundation for an exciting tomorrow at the political, social, and technological levels.

In this depiction, we will suggest ways for each of us, experts and non-experts alike, to take a stand and collectively shape artificial intelligence in the coming years in a human-centered and collectively beneficial manner, away from conspiracy theories and closed communities.

Above all, this book aims to highlight the human being—in all its brilliance and darkness—both in the background and in the foreground of intelligent systems. Furthermore, it will indicate how and why the quest for artificial intelligence is fundamentally a significant search into the depths of humanity, humaneness, and humankind.