An Approximate Intelligence
Where AI Began, How It Works, What It Means
by Roger Vandomme

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Artificial intelligence is everywhere. In our phones, our medical diagnoses, our hiring decisions, our shopping recommendations. Yet few people truly understand what it is — and what it isn't. This book is neither a technical manual nor a doomsday essay. It's an invitation to finally understand what lies behind the algorithms. No formulas, no jargon, but no oversimplification either. You will discover: How AI transforms uncertainty into probabilities to help us make better decisions Why it doesn't "think" but calculates — and why that changes everything What neural networks, deep learning, and large language models actually do How to tell credible promises from media hype The ethical questions every citizen and leader should be asking From Pascal and Fermat to ChatGPT, this book traces four centuries of probability theory and artificial intelligence. It is written for executives, professionals, students, and curious minds who want to understand before they use, and decide with full knowledge of the facts. AI is neither magic nor threat. It's a powerful tool — if you know what it actually does.

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Roger Vandomme is a data scientist and artificial intelligence consultant. For over twenty years, he has helped organizations navigate their data transformation journeys, from strategy to operational deployment. With a background in statistics and management, he has worked across diverse industries — banking, defense, telecommunications, and manufacturing — designing and deploying predictive models long before AI became a mainstream topic. Passionate about teaching, he has lectured on strategic planning at the Canadian Forces College and on machine learning at the University of Toronto. Convinced that understanding must come before use, he wrote An Approximate Intelligence to give non-technical readers the keys to a technology too often shrouded in mystery or hype. His approach combines scientific rigor, clear explanations, and critical thinking. Roger Vandomme lives in Toronto, Canada. When he's not exploring the frontiers of artificial intelligence, he shares his passion for making complex ideas accessible on his YouTube channel.

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