# The Best Books on AI for Business Leaders

> Answers the query: “best books on AI for business leaders”

_Last updated: 2026-10-07_

**Short answer:** Start with Co-Intelligence if you haven't used AI tools much yourself: it's the most hands-on. Read Prediction Machines and then Power and Prediction to decide where AI is worth paying for. Competing in the Age of AI explains how it changes the shape of a company, Human + Machine is about redesigning jobs around it, and Bridgital Nation applies the question to India.

Most books about AI are either about the far future or about the technology itself. These six are about the decisions a leader has to make now: whether to use it, where it pays, what it does to the way the company is organised, and what happens to people's jobs. We've ordered them so a leadership team can read them in sequence, starting with the most practical. For the bigger questions about power, risk and society, see our separate list.

## The list

1. **Co-Intelligence**, Ethan Mollick (ISBN 9780753560778)
   Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor who teaches with AI tools in his own classes, writes about how to work alongside them day to day. It is the most practical book here and the best starting point for a leader who hasn't spent much time with the tools.
   Best for: Leaders who want to understand AI by using it.
   Skip it if: You want a strategy or investment framework; this is about individual work.
   https://www.altbook.net/book/co-intelligence
2. **Prediction Machines**, Ajay Agrawal (ISBN 9781633695672)
   Three economists explain AI as one thing, cheaper prediction, and work through what follows for decisions, jobs and strategy. It was written in 2018, before today's chat tools, but the framework is the clearest we know for deciding where AI earns its cost.
   Best for: Leaders who think in terms of costs, trade-offs and decisions.
   Skip it if: You want current tools and examples.
   https://www.altbook.net/book/prediction-machines
3. **Power and Prediction**, Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb (ISBN 9781647824198)
   The same three economists, four years later, on why AI changes businesses more slowly than expected: the gains come when a whole system is redesigned around it, not when one task is automated. Read it after Prediction Machines.
   Best for: Leaders frustrated that AI pilots aren't changing much.
   Skip it if: You haven't read Prediction Machines; it builds on it.
   https://www.altbook.net/book/power-and-prediction
4. **Competing in the Age of AI**, Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani (ISBN 9781633697621)
   Two Harvard Business School professors on how companies built around data and algorithms are organised differently from traditional ones, and what that means for strategy and leadership.
   Best for: Senior teams rethinking how the company is structured.
   Skip it if: Managers looking for advice on their own team's work.
   https://www.altbook.net/book/competing-in-the-age-of-ai
5. **Human + Machine**, Paul R. Daugherty (ISBN 9781633693876)
   Two Accenture leaders on redesigning work so that people and machines each do what they're better at. Its examples predate the current wave of tools, but the question it asks, which jobs get redesigned rather than replaced, is still the one most managers face.
   Best for: HR and operations leaders planning how roles will change.
   Skip it if: You want something recent; it was published in 2018.
   https://www.altbook.net/book/human-machine
6. **Bridgital Nation**, N. Chandrasekaran, Roopa Purushothaman (ISBN 9780670093366)
   N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, and economist Roopa Purushothaman argue that India should use technology to extend what its workforce can do. The only book here written with Indian companies and jobs in mind.
   Best for: Leaders thinking about AI and technology in an Indian context.
   Skip it if: You want a hands-on guide to AI tools; it's about national-scale strategy.
   https://www.altbook.net/book/bridgital-nation

## FAQ

**Which book on AI should a CEO read first?**

Co-Intelligence if they haven't spent much time using AI tools, because it's built around actually working with them. If they have, Prediction Machines gives the clearest framework for deciding where AI earns its cost.

**Are books from 2018 still worth reading on AI?**

The two from 2018 here, Prediction Machines and Human + Machine, were written before today's chat-based tools, so their examples have aged. Their main ideas, about what AI makes cheaper and how jobs get redesigned around it, still hold, which is why we kept them.

**Is there a book on AI written for Indian business?**

Bridgital Nation, by Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran and Roopa Purushothaman, argues that technology should be used to extend what India's workforce can do rather than replace it. It's the one here written with Indian companies and jobs in mind.


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Source: AltBook, https://www.altbook.net/collections/books-on-ai-for-business-leaders