Mikhail Ivanovich Vasiliev is a model "high value citizen," a top AI engineering architect for Lloyd's Taiping Group, the world's premier financial services company. He leads a perfectly ordered life, with his routine optimized by his team of AI agents, but as he nears the creation of the world's first sentient being, forces converge seeking to prevent or exploit the advent of this new technology. Mikhail and his cohorts and enemies alike struggle with the invention's potential intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual impacts and the possibility of losing control of their lives to their own creations. This gripping narrative is followed by an overview of the real-life technologies that play crucial roles in the story and that are shaping our world today. As one of today's leading experts on technology innovation, Michael Steep is uniquely qualified to describe the impact of unchecked technology development currently underway. "An expansive trip into our future and the technology to take us there." --Tom Wheeler, author of From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future , former chairman of Federal Communications Commission "Is it science fiction, or our future? Steep has opened up the integrated experiences, business models, and societal impact that disruptive technology portends. As a country, we have big choices to make, and First Light of Day tells a captivating story highlighting the powerful changes already underway. As a former leader at Amazon, I remember that, when the company started 25 years ago, how ridiculously traditional business leaders underestimated the impact of Amazon and digital technologies. Now, looking forward 10 to 20 years, what sounds the impossible will become the everyday. Enjoy the story and don't ignore its lessons! --John Rossman, managing partner of Rossman Partners, author of Think Like Amazon: 501⁄2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader "What is the price of our society's obsession with artificial intelligence? Michael Steep's First Light of Day paints a picture of the not-too-distant future, illuminating the dangers of a world of our own creation, but not of our own design. In so doing, Steep's lucid and heartful narrative makes an impassioned case for each of us to remember our humanity, especially in the digital age." --General Stanley McChrystal, partner at McChrystal Group "With First Light of Day , Mike Steep has accomplished something extraordinary. Not only has he written an incredible description--chilling as it is--of the world ruled by machine intelligence that is just around the corner, but he has done so by inventing a new kind of book for this new era. It is a hybrid of a novel and a nonfiction book, each part furthering the vision of the other. It is as revolutionary as the future it explains." --Michael S. Malone, author, columnist, editor, investor, businessman, and television producer "Mike Steep gives a gripping look at how artificial intelligence and digital technologies will fundamentally change the future for every individual and organization. In his fictional narrative, he provides a fascinating look at life in the near future based on his treasure trove of experience of more than three decades at the world's most admired technology companies." --Michael Morell, former deputy director at CIA What is the price of our society's obsession with artificial intelligence? Michael Steep's First Light of Day paints a picture of the not-too- distant future, illuminating the dangers of a world of our own creation, but not of our own design. In so doing, Steep's lucid and heartful narrative makes an impassioned case for each of us to remember our humanity, especially in the digital age. --General Stanley McChrystal, partner, McChrystal Group With First Light of Day , Mike Steep has accomplished something extraordinary. Not only has he written an incredible description-- chilling as it is--of the world ruled by machine intelligence that is just around the corner, but he has done so by inventing a new kind of book for this new era. It is a hybrid of a novel and a nonfiction book, each part furthering the vision of the other. It is as revolutionary as the future it explains. --Michael S. Malone, author, columnist, editor, investor, businessman, and television producer An expansive trip into our future and the technology to take us there. Michael Steep has created a new genre of technological realism that gives the reader a heady combination of science fiction and scientific fact. --Tom Wheeler , former chairman, Federal Communications Commission; author, From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future Mike Steep gives a gripping look at how artificial intelligence and digital technologies will fundamentally change the future for every individual and organization. In his fictional narrative, he provides a fascinating look at life in the near future based on his treasure trove of experience of more than three decades at