Introducing Rebels of Reason
We live in the Age of AI—built by misfits, dreamers, and outcasts you’ve never heard of.
ChatGPT wasn’t just code. It was a moment in time. The dawn of the Age of AI.
But this new era wasn’t born in Silicon Valley. It was built over centuries by unlikely rebels: eccentrics, visionaries, and misfits who defied convention, challenged institutions, and refused to quit. Rebels like Walter Pitts, the homeless teen who opened the door to neural networks, and Fei-Fei Li, the overlooked godmother of computer vision.
The story runs through Alan Turing’s fight against the Nazis, DARPA-funded war labs, and a decades-long trail of gameplay, from chess to checkers to AlphaGo. There’s Janet Baker, whose voice tech that gave us Siri was lost to Belgian swindlers, and the moment Google’s arrogance let a scrappy startup race ahead.
Along the way, Rebels of Reason peels back the curtain on how AI works, why it feels like magic, and what it means to live in an age of thinking machines.
This isn’t the story of ChatGPT. It’s the sweeping, human saga of how we got here... and the brilliant weirdos who made it possible.
Rebels of Reason is here. Subscribe to join the AI CIO community, where you can see all the AI updates, news, and more.