This book is a collaboration between two highly respected Chinese writers with the aim of defining both the present level of artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential changes in AI over the next twenty years: hence the title.

There are two introductions; one from each author.  And there are ten short stories; each is prefaced by a brief paragraph of how AI is used in the story and then followed by an in-depth analysis of the story and how the technology might evolve into what the story portrays.  I believe all the stories were written by Chen Qiufan (aka Stanley Chan) and all the commentary and analysis is by Kai-Fu Lee.

The stories encompass all the significant areas of human society that the author could envision: displaced workers, immersive social media and celebrity worship, deep-learning (and whether it gets in the way of real-life learning), virtual learning to assist disabled people and, of course, whether an AI computer could destroy the world (à la Skynet from the Terminator movies).

The stories are both enlightening and entertaining; some more than others.  I would advise the book be read for the wealth of easy-to-digest information about just where AI is today and where it could potentially go in twenty years and not so much for fiction entertainment.  Their explanations in each analysis can be dense but is written for general consumption; you don't need a PhD to grasp the concepts.  Plus the fictionalized stories put each concept into context.

This is staying on my shelf for a comparison over the next two decades; this is highly recommended.  It should be introductory reading in college.  ~~ Catherine Book