My friends and sometimes I too, we use a lot AI for daily decisions lately: when to buy, what to buy, is your life experience matching the job you want to apply, what colours are in fashion this season, where to spend vacations, what to do while on vacation...you name it. It feels safe and predictable having AI on your side, saving you from the trials and errors of late times.
I am not a frequent reader of science fiction, but our times require a different literary approach. I´ve recently read that most of the AI minds nowadays do love science fiction, hence the futuristic take of our daily lives. Hence, my decision to also delve a bit more into the ambiance of this genre.
For Best Results Follow Instructions by Alastair Puddick, an author I had the chance to introduce to my readers before, offered me a wise combination of thriller and AI excitement, against a philosophical background.
Tom signs up for a AI Life coach that may help him have an easier life, as the artificial intelligence may take the most important decisions for him. It may be easy, indeed, and taking decisions doesn´t always come smoothly. But what defines us as humans better than our capacity - free will, some may say - to take decisions? In Tom´s case, the situations gets a bit more complicated, as it seems that the AI solution he was so much endeared to may actually act against his very interests.
I´ve got lost in the thoughts about a trend that I signed to willingly and by intellectual laziness. I loved how this book - through thrilling action and humour - may gently remind us about our human conditions, limited, indeed, but still operating within parameters of freedom. Unless, we willingly decide to limit our freedom.
A recommended book if you are looking to think about AI and its consequences from a literary perspective.
Rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
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