The AI debate is full of noise. This book cuts through it.

Hype merchants promise artificial minds. Doomers warn of extinction. Both miss the point.

Not Artificial, Not Intelligent shows how today's AI really works - as giant statistical mirrors, not thinking machines - and why that matters more than any sci-fi fantasy. It’s not about intelligence. It’s about power, infrastructure, and how machine learning is quietly reshaping everything from business to culture.

Written for curious, critical readers - from technologists to execs to policy thinkers - this book dismantles the myths, explains the mechanics, and explores what AI means now, not in some imaginary future. File under AI realism.

Whether you're sick of breathless headlines or trying to make sense of the real risks and rewards, this book gives you a clearer lens.

Simon Wardley - Advisor and Speaker

‘The AGI bubble will pop. Not because the technology fails, but because the fantasy can't survive contact with reality... The real revolution isn’t making machines think. It’s making them boring enough that nobody has to think about them.’ - Well said

Steve Yegge - Engineering Leader

I like this take. Cognitive exoskeleton pilot sounds about right to me.

Dries Buytaert - Founder of Drupal, Co-founder of Acquia

Well-written... it made me think. I loved that about this essay. 

What's inside

INTRODUCTION - Why AI can't see beyond the next word, how a B-movie alien egg became our economic obsession, why orientation beats prediction, and what happens when the hype and anti-hype are both wrong.

PART I: BAD STORIES ABOUT AI

A HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE AI BUBBLE - Why we're spending $16 for every $1 earned, how the missile gap outsmarts the AGI race, what happens when infrastructure outlives fantasy, and why the bubble is the wrapper.

BUBBLES POP. PLATFORMS PERSIST - How to build moats not bubbles, how Reddit rage proves demand not failure, and what calling everything "wrappers" reveals about your thinking.

ALCHEMY 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO - Why Newton spent more time on transmutation than physics, how neurons laugh at maths, why the furnace builders want $7 trillion, and how to spot when brilliant people chase impossible goals.

PART II: HOW IT REALLY WORKS

WHY YOUR AI NEVER WORKS ON THE FIRST TRY - The mathematical proof your frustration is inevitable, the law that says you'll never know if you're close, how AI turns programmers into pilots and writers into navigators, and the moment Thoughtworks admitted defeat.

THE PACHINKO MACHINE PLAYS YOU - What makes pigeons peck and humans type, why Microsoft's AI CEO thinks you're going insane, how AI got inside your OODA loop, and the difference between comic book panic and actual harm.

RACIST MATHS - How AI reveals your company's hidden values, how bias can hide in three random numbers, why Grok went Reich-boss in one beat, why ending DEI is tomorrow's smoking gun, and what owls mean for your training data.

PART III: WHO WINS, WHO WORKS

THEY PAID TO PLAY COACHELLA - Why the biggest break in music costs six figures to accept, how copyright killed the thing it was meant to protect, what Morris Levy's baseball bat taught Silicon Valley, and why the Stationers' Company would love Spotify.

BIG JOBS: The apocalypse where everyone gets hired, where productivity hides for centuries, the wrong-shaped factories, why Edison funded the electric chair to win an argument, and the invention of childhood.

THE DISAPPEARING SALARY - What Malcolm McLean's metal boxes did to Detroit, what happened when France sold off taxes, why your boss would sell your future to a vending machine, what Sam Altman can't say, and how to build an empire on crumbs.

OUTRO: THE MACHINE CAN'T PLAN. YOU CAN'T STOP - What Engelbart's 1968 demo taught us about timing, why naming shapes perception, how iteration becomes literacy, mirrors made of maths, the four lenses. And how this ends.

Reactions from industry peers

If you read one thing about AI today, read this…

- Mark Strefford - AI Strategy & Delivery for £100m-£1Bn+ Companies

Of all the analyses and prognostications, this one most echoes my own thinking, actions, and recommendations.

- Charlie Schick, PhD, Senior Advisor, Healthcare and Life Sciences

I’ve changed my mind, there is extraordinary content, if you are lucky enough to find it.

- Russell Murray - Transformative Delivery Leadership

Well said, and thoughtful. Great read

- Cliff Hazell - Founder and Director, Cognician Group

While 99% have got their eyes on the ‘prize’, this article sheds light on where else we should be looking. Transformation is undoubtably afoot, but it’s the race to ‘boring’ that is exciting. A very interesting read.

- James Barrett - Managing Director of Michael Page Technology & Page Consulting

This piece nails something I've been feeling for a while now.

- Matthew Hawn, Creative Industries Transformation

Thoughts on the very real AI bubble evolving in realtime. The more you see it, the more likely you'll come out the other side a winner.

- Robert Douglass, Software Creator

Fantastic read.

- Luke Scheybeler, Co-founder of Rapha

a stonking good read… Very thoughtful. I think I agree with all of it

- Pete Ritchie, Business Analyst, Banking and Payments SME

I read this as one of the most optimistic takes for the value of humans expertise in an AI world.

- Paulo Lai, Pathfinder & Engineering Leader

This should be required reading for AI fanboys (and girls, too) that are planning for some huge fraction of knowledge work to go away soon.

- Howard Wiener, MSIA, CERM, Author, Educator, Principal Consultant, Enterprise Architect, Program/Project Manager, Business Architect

Outstanding… Definitely worth a complete read!

- Emmons Michael Patzer, Senior VP, Business Analysis & Strategy

Over the last 20 plus years advising companies big and small, I have sought to provide grounded insights and fresh perspectives. Here is an interesting perspective on AGI from Django Beatty.

- Paul Bay, co-founder The Comms Collective, founder citizenbay, NED, Mentor

Great piece of work

- Alessandro Magnino, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer

Really interesting, nicely done. Don’t agree with it all, but very thought provoking

- Alex McFadyen, EVP of Technology & Evangelism

Bravo. Incredible essay.

- Ryan Szrama, CEO at Centarro

This is too good writing and thinking not to share. Best read of my week for sure. Not only it articulates excellently the argument around AI & job impact, but has a wealth of historical references that makes you pause and think. Just brilliant!

- Vasileios Fasoulas, Technology Leader & Lever for Product Engineering Teams, AI Champion

Great article Django! The complex soup of different strands in this new space are very tricky to untangle. Your personal history in the story felt real too.

- Peter Brownell, Director

Great article, Django. I follow your arguments and agree completely. You've perfectly articulated how the creative industries have long operated

- Kjetil Manheim, CIO/CMO

very insightful and a cracking good read!

- Andy Neale, Deputy Chief Executive, Parliamentary Counsel Office