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You to the Power of Two: Redefining Human Potential in the Age of Identic AI
A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.
- GenresBusiness
400 pages, Hardcover
Published December 2, 2025
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1504 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 18, 2026
Interesting!!!!!!
AI is much more than just a tool
AI will change us in everything we do. Data is being harvested electronically in all of our interactions through connections such as Google searches, Amazon searches and purchases, Facebook and Instagram, financial and health information etc. The digital technologies are capturing our behavior as data.
This information is used to train AI through algorithms to analyze, interpret and provide insights, solutions and recommendations.
Our self(Identity) is defined by:
1. Physical - gender, race, appearance, voice
2. Social - your roles and affiliations - parent, student, retiree, member of a professional organization
3. Cultural - your beliefs, preferences, and affiliations (Christian, feminist, social activists, sports fan)
4. Educational & Professional - teacher, accountant, lawyer, artist, doctor, farmer, preacher, plumber, electrician, etc
AI Agent Types:
1. AI Agent experts - experts in a specialty with extensive subject matter knowledge. This knowledge is always being update and available to us in performing our jobs.
2. Identic AI - are deeply personalized digital counterparts capable of extending your human capabilities. They can manage your daily lives, enhance our intelligence, promote our wellbeing as indispensable partners in our work, health care and personal growth. (THIS SEEMS FUTURISTIC, but this maybe is where we are headed faster than we realize)
To Succeed Young People must:
1. See learning as a constant, evolving & exciting part of their lives
2. Be able to question, interpret and apply AI generated content and information Critically and even Skeptically
3. Embrace interdisciplinary learning so the young learners can elevate their portfolio of skills and knowledge.
AI Services
1. Deep Mind by Google- analyze medical datasets cross referencing millions of medical records, studies and clinical trials
2. WOEBOT & Replika - Emotional support and companionship
3. Cognii teaching platform- Personalized & immediate feedback help tailor the learning experience to each student’s needs
4. Question for business leaders- How to train and develop your work force - Intelligent systems promise to make learning more personalized, efficient, and accessible. DOCEBO an AI driven adaptive learning platform used by Walmart, Amazon, and Heineken
5. ChatGPT (generative pre-trained transformers) - OpenAI Sam Altman - uses Large Language Model (LLM) can process your request and produce coherent and context appropriate text. ChatGPT can solve equations, produce source code and automate workflows.
6. These are examples, there are many others available for different professions such as journalism, artist, attorneys, etc.
AI is much more than just a tool
AI will change us in everything we do. Data is being harvested electronically in all of our interactions through connections such as Google searches, Amazon searches and purchases, Facebook and Instagram, financial and health information etc. The digital technologies are capturing our behavior as data.
This information is used to train AI through algorithms to analyze, interpret and provide insights, solutions and recommendations.
Our self(Identity) is defined by:
1. Physical - gender, race, appearance, voice
2. Social - your roles and affiliations - parent, student, retiree, member of a professional organization
3. Cultural - your beliefs, preferences, and affiliations (Christian, feminist, social activists, sports fan)
4. Educational & Professional - teacher, accountant, lawyer, artist, doctor, farmer, preacher, plumber, electrician, etc
AI Agent Types:
1. AI Agent experts - experts in a specialty with extensive subject matter knowledge. This knowledge is always being update and available to us in performing our jobs.
2. Identic AI - are deeply personalized digital counterparts capable of extending your human capabilities. They can manage your daily lives, enhance our intelligence, promote our wellbeing as indispensable partners in our work, health care and personal growth. (THIS SEEMS FUTURISTIC, but this maybe is where we are headed faster than we realize)
To Succeed Young People must:
1. See learning as a constant, evolving & exciting part of their lives
2. Be able to question, interpret and apply AI generated content and information Critically and even Skeptically
3. Embrace interdisciplinary learning so the young learners can elevate their portfolio of skills and knowledge.
AI Services
1. Deep Mind by Google- analyze medical datasets cross referencing millions of medical records, studies and clinical trials
2. WOEBOT & Replika - Emotional support and companionship
3. Cognii teaching platform- Personalized & immediate feedback help tailor the learning experience to each student’s needs
4. Question for business leaders- How to train and develop your work force - Intelligent systems promise to make learning more personalized, efficient, and accessible. DOCEBO an AI driven adaptive learning platform used by Walmart, Amazon, and Heineken
5. ChatGPT (generative pre-trained transformers) - OpenAI Sam Altman - uses Large Language Model (LLM) can process your request and produce coherent and context appropriate text. ChatGPT can solve equations, produce source code and automate workflows.
6. These are examples, there are many others available for different professions such as journalism, artist, attorneys, etc.
January 16, 2026
Bradley and Tapscott have written a brilliant volume on Identic AI. It reminded me of a slow burn novel that doesn't seem to have a lot going on but then with each chapter you realize the iterative importance of each detail. I had not read anything by the authors previously, despite Don Tapscott being honored with an Order of Canada for his work (not altogether significant, but it does speak to the experience he has on the subject matter). I was surprised with just how much I learned from this book. For those wondering about the book, and what Identic AI is: It is an extension of one's identity in real life so that you have a second version of you animated through apps or blockchain technology that allows for hyperpersonalization to enhance, if not almost utopify your experience of the world. It would anticipate your needs, offer a sense of companionship in some cases, positively affect healthcare outcomes, and dramatically impact what the authors called "lifelong learning". Compelling to say the very least!
Despite the density of the material, the authors did not bog the book down with jargon beyond what was required to set a reasonable context for understanding. The chapters were also laid out really well, and the content of each reflects a depth of research that certainly makes this worth reading, if you are unfamiliar with identic AI (or maybe even if you're familiar with it and just want to learn more from Canadian expertise in the field). The authors take readers on a tour of ideal outcomes and the future as they might hope to see it. I was a bit dismayed by their sunny outlook, given my inclination towards more equity and justice topics (which rarely square well with unbridled optimism because of systemic inequities). However, I'm glad I stuck with the book because the last two chapters were the most impactful: Seven Principles for Identic AI (if you read only one chapter of the book, this is probably the most organizationally applicable one), and Making The Big Leap: Success in The Age of Identic AI. They earned my quelled skepticism, and I was creatively inspired while reading, considering how it could apply at work and beyond.
A particularly salient highlight of You to The Power of Two was the final chapter where the authors explored the real engines of change powering artificial intelligence conversations and adaptation. They discuss the nature of it changing the way we conceive of labour and its value, where Identic AI stands to augment or supplement human capacity. Part of this, which many books miss, is the discussion about the social safety net that, in economic terms, the value of labour informs. They propose what changes to the social contract might look like, and at first glance, they're not exactly that far off from what will probably come to pass.
The inspired way of thinking about my work, was another really helpful application of the book, where my experience with Identic AI is confined to a priori terms. It had me consider though, fields such as education, where the authors listed skills AI would be optimized for. I wondered for example, whether we could see the shift from learning about information (how school is now for many), to shifting more towards skills that underpin what the authors call "deep learning--critical thinking, problem-solving, analysis, and interpretation" (p. 123). What would it look like then, for students (and even people attending library programs as with my job) to be given less information about a topic, and offered experiences instead, that cultivate this deep learning based on research on neurofeedback through developmental stages? Maybe not altogether that different than the way learning looks now, but it provided fodder for brainstorming, that's for sure. Similarly because of the groundwork the authors laid, I considered the ways that AI is touted as a fixing, or augmenting mechanism but what happens when we augment without actually addressing the problems that require a technology to save us from the misery of work? While reading the healthcare chapter I also saw themes of eugenics emerge, where AI's predicting capacity might sort out what genetic signatures cause things like disability, transness, queerness, neurodivergence, and more, then "solve" them for parents who want to do so. Because there are no existing laws or regulations against AI solving for what some deem "problems" rather than seeing society as the problem by othering and oppressing, what do things like the "right to life" mean in the context of lives that have not yet been conceived of, but are rendered alive through Identic AI's data animating capacity? It grants a preview of the next decade where we will no doubt see an eagerness to re-write and amend Constitutions to clarify legal terms, or facilitate the application of policies and laws. The authors themselves quoted someone who said that the economic shifts in the 2030s (juxtaposed to the "boom" of the 2020s) leaves far too much room for fascism to take root when accompanied by job loses, economic hardship and an absence of existential meaning. All of this to say, it's not just the information the authors give readers, but the critical thinking it inspires that makes it an excellent book.
Technology books do not always have the best shelf life, but I can see this book still being relevant many years from now. Definitely worth the read if AI, and community development are your thing!
Despite the density of the material, the authors did not bog the book down with jargon beyond what was required to set a reasonable context for understanding. The chapters were also laid out really well, and the content of each reflects a depth of research that certainly makes this worth reading, if you are unfamiliar with identic AI (or maybe even if you're familiar with it and just want to learn more from Canadian expertise in the field). The authors take readers on a tour of ideal outcomes and the future as they might hope to see it. I was a bit dismayed by their sunny outlook, given my inclination towards more equity and justice topics (which rarely square well with unbridled optimism because of systemic inequities). However, I'm glad I stuck with the book because the last two chapters were the most impactful: Seven Principles for Identic AI (if you read only one chapter of the book, this is probably the most organizationally applicable one), and Making The Big Leap: Success in The Age of Identic AI. They earned my quelled skepticism, and I was creatively inspired while reading, considering how it could apply at work and beyond.
A particularly salient highlight of You to The Power of Two was the final chapter where the authors explored the real engines of change powering artificial intelligence conversations and adaptation. They discuss the nature of it changing the way we conceive of labour and its value, where Identic AI stands to augment or supplement human capacity. Part of this, which many books miss, is the discussion about the social safety net that, in economic terms, the value of labour informs. They propose what changes to the social contract might look like, and at first glance, they're not exactly that far off from what will probably come to pass.
The inspired way of thinking about my work, was another really helpful application of the book, where my experience with Identic AI is confined to a priori terms. It had me consider though, fields such as education, where the authors listed skills AI would be optimized for. I wondered for example, whether we could see the shift from learning about information (how school is now for many), to shifting more towards skills that underpin what the authors call "deep learning--critical thinking, problem-solving, analysis, and interpretation" (p. 123). What would it look like then, for students (and even people attending library programs as with my job) to be given less information about a topic, and offered experiences instead, that cultivate this deep learning based on research on neurofeedback through developmental stages? Maybe not altogether that different than the way learning looks now, but it provided fodder for brainstorming, that's for sure. Similarly because of the groundwork the authors laid, I considered the ways that AI is touted as a fixing, or augmenting mechanism but what happens when we augment without actually addressing the problems that require a technology to save us from the misery of work? While reading the healthcare chapter I also saw themes of eugenics emerge, where AI's predicting capacity might sort out what genetic signatures cause things like disability, transness, queerness, neurodivergence, and more, then "solve" them for parents who want to do so. Because there are no existing laws or regulations against AI solving for what some deem "problems" rather than seeing society as the problem by othering and oppressing, what do things like the "right to life" mean in the context of lives that have not yet been conceived of, but are rendered alive through Identic AI's data animating capacity? It grants a preview of the next decade where we will no doubt see an eagerness to re-write and amend Constitutions to clarify legal terms, or facilitate the application of policies and laws. The authors themselves quoted someone who said that the economic shifts in the 2030s (juxtaposed to the "boom" of the 2020s) leaves far too much room for fascism to take root when accompanied by job loses, economic hardship and an absence of existential meaning. All of this to say, it's not just the information the authors give readers, but the critical thinking it inspires that makes it an excellent book.
Technology books do not always have the best shelf life, but I can see this book still being relevant many years from now. Definitely worth the read if AI, and community development are your thing!
November 30, 2025
As we embark on this exciting new frontier of human-AI collaboration, it's essential to critically manage our resources to preserve human creativity, thinking, and societal trust. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in technology, specifically AI, and its implications for our lives.
The authors skillfully weave together insights from technology experts, philosophers, and social scientists to create a comprehensive and accessible guide to the future of AI. They reveal how AI tools are already reshaping various aspects of our lives, from work and communication to healthcare, education, and relationships. As AI gains autonomy, it will no longer be a mere tool, but a partner that will amplify human potential and expand our capabilities.
Consider: we are coming into a world, where with deep training of a personalized assistant, it may be able to jump on the business opportunities you’ve followed-up on in the past, negotiate terms, draw up a contract, and have it waiting for your review—all before your morning coffee is finished.
Now, imagine if the same standard was played out in your dating life, allowing your AI to sit through dreary first dates and propose a short list of the top three single individuals in your area that you should consider meeting.
But as AI gains autonomy, we must confront the questions: Who owns an AI assistant? Who benefits from its services? How far do we allow the impact on our personal lives, like dating? The authors pose these questions and more, encouraging us to think critically about the future of work, relationships, and society.
I highly recommend reading this book with a dose of caution and a sprinkle of optimism. The authors do a great job of acknowledging the extraordinary promise of AI, but also highlight the profound risks it poses to individuals, businesses, communities, and society. They emphasize the need for a more nuanced understanding of AI and its role in redefining human potential, success, and the institutions of society, proposing their own action plan—but, ultimately, the call to action is in sharing knowledge and empowering us to act now.
Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for providing an ALC. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to dive into this thought-provoking book, and I'm confident that it will inspire you to join the conversation about the future of AI and its impact on our world.
The authors skillfully weave together insights from technology experts, philosophers, and social scientists to create a comprehensive and accessible guide to the future of AI. They reveal how AI tools are already reshaping various aspects of our lives, from work and communication to healthcare, education, and relationships. As AI gains autonomy, it will no longer be a mere tool, but a partner that will amplify human potential and expand our capabilities.
Consider: we are coming into a world, where with deep training of a personalized assistant, it may be able to jump on the business opportunities you’ve followed-up on in the past, negotiate terms, draw up a contract, and have it waiting for your review—all before your morning coffee is finished.
Now, imagine if the same standard was played out in your dating life, allowing your AI to sit through dreary first dates and propose a short list of the top three single individuals in your area that you should consider meeting.
But as AI gains autonomy, we must confront the questions: Who owns an AI assistant? Who benefits from its services? How far do we allow the impact on our personal lives, like dating? The authors pose these questions and more, encouraging us to think critically about the future of work, relationships, and society.
I highly recommend reading this book with a dose of caution and a sprinkle of optimism. The authors do a great job of acknowledging the extraordinary promise of AI, but also highlight the profound risks it poses to individuals, businesses, communities, and society. They emphasize the need for a more nuanced understanding of AI and its role in redefining human potential, success, and the institutions of society, proposing their own action plan—but, ultimately, the call to action is in sharing knowledge and empowering us to act now.
Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for providing an ALC. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to dive into this thought-provoking book, and I'm confident that it will inspire you to join the conversation about the future of AI and its impact on our world.
January 22, 2026
As someone who doesn't understand AI well, this book was an excellent primer on the potential of AI to add dimensions to our lives. Like most of Tapscott's books, I find it well written, easy for the layperson to understand, but overly optimistic on the realistic capacity of humanity to operationalize responsibly. And that is the biggest shortcoming of this one - they acknowledge that privacy and accountability are really important in using AI responsibly but are incredibly - possibly deliberately - naive about how and whether that can happen. The lessons of monopolies like google and meta seem deliberately ignored.
So - great primer; poor roadmap
So - great primer; poor roadmap
January 5, 2026
Identic AI will have a massive impact on society. This book highlights both the great opportunities and changes, as well as the risks. It is easy to read. However, in places it is repetitive and, for me, somewhat superficial. I missed a deeper insight into practical applications. Overall, 3.5 stars.
February 13, 2026
Very interesting different from what I read, but I enjoyed it
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews