An engaging exploration of agency that provides students with the critical tools needed to understand and participate in debates about future machines.

The great promise of artificial intelligence's evolution lives alongside an equally great anxiety. As we develop increasingly autonomous machines that do things in the world, questions about agency—distinguishing machines that can act from those that cannot—are among the thorniest we face. A concise and probing exploration of agency, this accessible textbook provides the critical, technical, and conceptual tools needed to make sense of rapid changes in what machines can do and their role in our lives.