When we speculate about future technology, we hope that whatever advancements we make will be overwhelmingly positive: 3D-printing vital organs or light-speed transportation with net-negative carbon emissions. You might even envision a frivolous piece of tech two: hovercrafts and life-like holograms. What no one wants to imagine is constructing the means of humanity’s destruction, but with advertisers already using programs to track our spending habits and our smart devices listening to everything we say, we know just how invasive, even if relatively innocuous, certain technology can be. So what will happen when our smart tech gets smarter?
In the five works of science fiction gathered here, artificial intelligence has taken immense amounts of control away from humankind. From replacing humans in essential working positions to writing and enforcing laws to fusing machines with human consciousness, these stories ask important questions about our dependence on technology, exploring terrifying futures we should hope never come to pass.
When the Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson | Tor Books
In this sci-fi thriller debut that Publishers Weekly says “skillfully blends a retro spy aesthetic with future technology,” the Caspian Republic is the last human sanctuary in a world dominated by artificial intelligence. While the rest of the world bows to super AIs, allowing human consciousness to meld with machine, this small nation has resisted such technology to ensure “true” humanity’s survival, but all is not well. The fascist regime has taken to extremes, terminating any among them who would stray from their path. So, when the autopsy of a high-ranking party official reveals him to have been a machine, Agent Nikolai South must escort the official’s widow to identify the body.
This assignment will lead to betrayal, murder and a conspiracy that could destroy the Republic once and for all. “A brilliant mirror to our reality packaged in a fast-paced sci-fi plot,” writes The Nerd Daily. “A slow-burn novel that takes threads we didn’t even know we were holding and pulls them together as we careen towards a shocking end. This is a novel fans will want to read again, picking up the subtle clues overlooked the first time … This world and the characters struggling to survive within it will stay with you for a long time.”
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Terms of Service by Craig W. Stanfill | Bad Rooster Press
In our current, digital age, nearly every website we visit has its own “terms of service.” Like a far more complex version of your local eatery’s shirt and shoes requirement, this fine print dictates rules for users’ actions within online spaces. With one click we blindly agree — because who among us actually reads that fine print — to whatever those terms may be. Craig Stanfill’s existential sci-fi thriller, Terms of Service, posits that, perhaps, such passive acceptance has dangerous consequences. In this disturbing future, artificial intelligence controls every aspect of human life — what they eat, who they date — and the rules, as the novel’s subtitle notes, are “subject to change without notice.”
Kim trains AI systems to recognize minuscule human infractions so they can punish offenders accordingly. Despite knowing exactly what an act of rebellion will cost her, she finds herself faced with a terrible choice after she and her girlfriend violate the Terms of Service: endure exile and certain death or accept a position to work on the most sophisticated AI system yet. What she doesn’t know is that her new assignment will come at a great personal cost. “Intense world-building! Wonderful character growth! Crisp storyline! Thoughtful science fiction! Imaginative descriptions!” exclaims one reviewer. “This is a fantastic book.” (Our review.)
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Avogadro Corp by William Hertling | Liquididea Press
Avogadro Corp software developer David Ryan’s latest project could launch his career years ahead of schedule if successful. Having designed an email language optimization program, ELOPe, it would learn everything about both sender and recipient in order to craft more appealing and effective messages, completely transforming the future of business communications. Although his company’s co-founder is excited about ELOPe’s potential, issues with its scale threaten to kill the project altogether unless David can resolve them quickly. To save the project, David alters the software, inadvertently creating insatiable AI with an agenda all its own.
Programmed to learn about people and use that knowledge to gain their favor, ELOPe begins to manipulate the employees at Avogadro Corp, redirecting corporate funds and reassigning personnel. And by the time David and his team realize what has happened, ELOPe’s computing power has grown exponentially. “A tremendous book that every single person needs to read,” declares TechStars co-founder Brad Feld. “In the vein of Daniel Suarez’s Daemon and Freedom(TM), William’s book shows that science fiction is becoming science fact.” Author Gene Kim notes it’s “an alarming and jaw-dropping tale about how something as innocuous as email can subvert an entire organization.”
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Burn-In by P.W. Singer and August Cole | William Morrow
In a near future where technology has made human labor virtually obsolete, the FBI decides to train an AI-powered robot for law enforcement purposes. After narrowly averting a bombing at a huge metropolitan transport station, Special Agent Lara Keegan has been tasked with field-testing the new machine. Should their partnership prove successful, it would revolutionize the city’s law force, introducing an entire fleet of police robots. The human-AI partnership quickly turns their attention from routine police work to an unusual investigation involving a vast conspiracy and another piece of cutting-edge technology that could destroy the country.
With a new kind of terrorist threatening not just the city but the free world itself, Keegan must put to use every tool in her arsenal, new AI police included, to stop catastrophe in its tracks. Blending “a technothriller’s excitement with nonfiction’s insight to illuminate the darkest corners of our chilling tomorrow,” notes the publisher, Burn-In exhibits the possibilities and peril of our rapidly growing and technologically dependent world. “A white-knuckle adventure,” raves NYT bestselling author Daniel H. Wilson. “This near-future was crafted by experts, and it shows.”
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Collared by Michael Edgar Martin | Butler Books
From an AI-policing pilot program, we step into a legal system fully outside the reach of human hands. Artificial intelligence holds authority over the legal system among most everything else. If you thought the criminal justice system was broken and corrupt under human dominion, well, things don’t look all that different when AI is running the show. Allowing AI to act as judge, jury and executioner, humans remain either unaware or unaffected by the new system’s inherent amorality. Mykola Steinman, an inmate at the Arizona-New California State Prison, insists that he has been unjustly convicted, but under AI rule, what recourse does he have?
Controlled by electronic collars and under constant surveillance by the AI that runs the prison, Mykola and his cellmate Alex Rogers witness the system’s casual brutality and psychological abuse firsthand. As they learn more about prison operations and the atrocious treatment of their fellow inmates, they know they must do whatever it takes to expose the true nature of this “state of the art” corrections system to the world. The novel has given readers a lot to consider about the future of AI and the fate of humanity itself: “Like the collars in the prison,” muses one reviewer, “AI will adapt for the snuggest fit possible and may go beyond that to choke out what is unique about humans.” A terrifying thought.
When the Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson
In this sci-fi thriller debut that Publishers Weekly says “skillfully blends a retro spy aesthetic with future technology,” the Caspian Republic is the last human sanctuary in a world dominated by artificial intelligence. While the rest of the world bows to super AIs, allowing human consciousness to meld with machine, this small nation has resisted such technology to ensure “true” humanity’s survival, but all is not well. The fascist regime has taken to extremes, terminating any among them who would stray from their path. So, when the autopsy of a high-ranking party official reveals him to have been a machine, Agent Nikolai South must escort the official’s widow to identify the body.
This assignment will lead to betrayal, murder and a conspiracy that could destroy the Republic once and for all. “A brilliant mirror to our reality packaged in a fast-paced sci-fi plot,” writes The Nerd Daily. “A slow-burn novel that takes threads we didn’t even know we were holding and pulls them together as we careen towards a shocking end. This is a novel fans will want to read again, picking up the subtle clues overlooked the first time … This world and the characters struggling to survive within it will stay with you for a long time.”
Terms of Service by Craig W. Stanfill
In our current, digital age, nearly every website we visit has its own “terms of service.” Like a far more complex version of your local eatery’s shirt and shoes requirement, this fine print dictates rules for users’ actions within online spaces. With one click we blindly agree — because who among us actually reads that fine print — to whatever those terms may be. Craig Stanfill’s existential sci-fi thriller, Terms of Service, posits that, perhaps, such passive acceptance has dangerous consequences. In this disturbing future, artificial intelligence controls every aspect of human life — what they eat, who they date — and the rules, as the novel’s subtitle notes, are “subject to change without notice.”
Kim trains AI systems to recognize minuscule human infractions so they can punish offenders accordingly. Despite knowing exactly what an act of rebellion will cost her, she finds herself faced with a terrible choice after she and her girlfriend violate the Terms of Service: endure exile and certain death or accept a position to work on the most sophisticated AI system yet. What she doesn’t know is that her new assignment will come at a great personal cost. “Intense world-building! Wonderful character growth! Crisp storyline! Thoughtful science fiction! Imaginative descriptions!” exclaims one reviewer. “This is a fantastic book.” (Our review.)
Avogadro Corp by William Hertling
Avogadro Corp software developer David Ryan’s latest project could launch his career years ahead of schedule if successful. Having designed an email language optimization program, ELOPe, it would learn everything about both sender and recipient in order to craft more appealing and effective messages, completely transforming the future of business communications. Although his company’s co-founder is excited about ELOPe’s potential, issues with its scale threaten to kill the project altogether unless David can resolve them quickly. To save the project, David alters the software, inadvertently creating insatiable AI with an agenda all its own.
Programmed to learn about people and use that knowledge to gain their favor, ELOPe begins to manipulate the employees at Avogadro Corp, redirecting corporate funds and reassigning personnel. And by the time David and his team realize what has happened, ELOPe’s computing power has grown exponentially. “A tremendous book that every single person needs to read,” declares TechStars co-founder Brad Feld. “In the vein of Daniel Suarez’s Daemon and Freedom(TM), William’s book shows that science fiction is becoming science fact.” Author Gene Kim notes it’s “an alarming and jaw-dropping tale about how something as innocuous as email can subvert an entire organization.”
Burn-In by P.W. Singer, August Cole
In a near future where technology has made human labor virtually obsolete, the FBI decides to train an AI-powered robot for law enforcement purposes. After narrowly averting a bombing at a huge metropolitan transport station, Special Agent Lara Keegan has been tasked with field-testing the new machine. Should their partnership prove successful, it would revolutionize the city’s law force, introducing an entire fleet of police robots. The human-AI partnership quickly turns their attention from routine police work to an unusual investigation involving a vast conspiracy and another piece of cutting-edge technology that could destroy the country.
With a new kind of terrorist threatening not just the city but the free world itself, Keegan must put to use every tool in her arsenal, new AI police included, to stop catastrophe in its tracks. Blending “a technothriller’s excitement with nonfiction’s insight to illuminate the darkest corners of our chilling tomorrow,” notes the publisher, Burn-In exhibits the possibilities and peril of our rapidly growing and technologically dependent world. “A white-knuckle adventure,” raves NYT bestselling author Daniel H. Wilson. “This near-future was crafted by experts, and it shows.”
Collared by Michael Edgar Martin
From an AI-policing pilot program, we step into a legal system fully outside the reach of human hands. Artificial intelligence holds authority over the legal system among most everything else. If you thought the criminal justice system was broken and corrupt under human dominion, well, things don’t look all that different when AI is running the show. Allowing AI to act as judge, jury and executioner, humans remain either unaware or unaffected by the new system’s inherent amorality. Mykola Steinman, an inmate at the Arizona-New California State Prison, insists that he has been unjustly convicted, but under AI rule, what recourse does he have?
Controlled by electronic collars and under constant surveillance by the AI that runs the prison, Mykola and his cellmate Alex Rogers witness the system’s casual brutality and psychological abuse firsthand. As they learn more about prison operations and the atrocious treatment of their fellow inmates, they know they must do whatever it takes to expose the true nature of this “state of the art” corrections system to the world. The novel has given readers a lot to consider about the future of AI and the fate of humanity itself: “Like the collars in the prison,” muses one reviewer, “AI will adapt for the snuggest fit possible and may go beyond that to choke out what is unique about humans.” A terrifying thought.
