Science fiction movies like "Blade Runner" and "The Terminator" have defined the perception of artificial intelligence within popular culture. For most people, the term AI conjures up images of a dystopian future dominated by humanoid robots that have taken over the world. This common conception leads to the dismissal of the technology as impossible, or at least faroff in the future. Few people realize that we are already delving into a world dominated by AI, and it's nothing like "The Terminator." The actual risks posed by artificial intelligence have nothing to do with killer robots; they relate to the machine-learning algorithms that recommend content on the internet.

There's an old belief that truth will always overcome error. Alas, history tells us something different. Without someone to fight for it, to put error on the defensive, truth may languish. It may even be lost, at least for some time. No one understood this better than the renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei.

Mark Twain famously said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Maybe if Mark Twain were alive today, he'd add "alternative facts" to that list. BusinessWeek in the article "Lies, Damn Lies, and Financial Statistics" reminds us of the management challenges with statisticians or "data scientists" who manipulate the data to create "pseudo-facts" that can lead to sub-optimal or even dangerously wrong decisions. My University of San Francisco class recently did a hackathon with a local data science company. It was insightful for all involved (and I learned of a new machine learning tool – BigML – which I will discuss in a future blog).

George Orwell's "1984" has been enjoying a rebirth since the inauguration of President Donald Trump and senior adviser Kellyanne Conway's use of the term "alternative facts." The 1949 novel is a dystopian view of British society when it's taken over by a totalitarian regime that uses "doublethink" and "newspeak" -- yes means no and no means yes -- to control the population. Conway, complaining on Jan. 22 about how Trump has been treated by the press, denied on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the administration was offering falsehoods when press secretary Sean Spicer insisted more people had witnessed the Trump inauguration than any other inauguration in history. Instead, she said, the administration was offering "alternative facts." The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday a "mysterious benefactor" bought 59 copies of the novel at Booksmith in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to be given away for free.

A week after President Donald Trump's inauguration, George Orwell's '1984' is the best-selling book on Amazon.com. The hearts of a thousand English teachers must be warmed as people flock to a novel published in 1949 for ways to think about their present moment. Orwell set his story in Oceania, one of three blocs or mega-states fighting over the globe in 1984. A week after President Donald Trump's inauguration, George Orwell's '1984' is the best-selling book on Amazon.com, as many are comparing it to today's America. Orwell could not have imagined the internet and its role in distributing alternative facts.

The regime in George Orwell's "1984" declared "War is Peace -- Freedom is Slavery -- Ignorance is Strength." The dystopian fiction drew flocks of book buyers after Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway's comment about "alternative facts." The publisher of George Orwell's novel "1984" has ordered a 75,000 copy reprint of the book after sales spiked earlier this week, CNN reports. "That is a substantial reprint," a spokesman for Penguin told CNN, "and larger than our typical reprint for '1984.'" The novel, which was the No. 1 bestselling book on Amazon as of Wednesday morning, was referenced by many in the press after comments made by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway.