Where are we headed, in a world shaped by AI?

For Emma is a fictional thriller that holds a magnifying glass up to the cyberpsychological ethical dilemmas of the future. Framed through the video-diary transcripts of a bereaved father, Josh, the reader learns early on that we are witnessing the final moments of the so-called 'San Francisco Bomber' psychologically unravel through his grief. The diaries are spoken as conversations with his late daughter Emma, who was a gifted and intelligent scientist working in 'Big Tech' at the time of her passing. 

As the transcripts unfold we find that Josh believes Emma to be a participant of a secret experiment aiming to directly embed AI into the human brain, merging technology with consciousness. The book is interspersed with notes of critical analysis from a book editor who adds their thoughts whilst transcribing the recordings. Through these transcripts, Morrison captures a realistic and raw thought stream of someone in deep emotional pain. The reader is unsure whether they are witnessing the sad ramblings of paranoia built on grief, or whether there is truth behind his reasonings. As a fan of The X Files, I was reminded of an episode called Folie à deux (a madness of two). As I witnessed his character becoming more delusional, I strangely found his arguments more convincing. This is echoed in the editor reflections throughout.   

From a cyberpsychological perspective, the book challenges our ethical boundaries of how far we are willing to integrate AI and technology into our lives, and what cost we are willing to pay. Indeed, as I sit here writing this review, I cannot help contemplating how much easier my writing would be with an in-built AI system eradicating writer's block and automatically searching for the most appropriate synonym. We've already witnessed how technology has reshaped our experiences of grief through the living memorialisation of digital identities (I can highly recommend the work of Elaine Kasket and Debra Bassett in this area). The book isn't scaremongering or alarmist in nature. Rather the reader is offered an ethical dilemma of trading privacy, autonomy and human compassion for infinite knowledge and immortality. Your opinion may already be weighted, but as the story unfolds, these ethical scales fluctuate; and for me they continue to do so. Although uncomfortable, the rate of technological development implies that these are decisions we should all be contemplating.

This book is wonderfully written. The writing style draws you in and the editor critique explicitly builds upon psychological theories to explain Josh's mindset. It is one of those books that will have you pondering the ending days after you have finished. Fans of the TV series Black Mirror, or dystopian fiction that hits a little too close to home, should check this one out. If written in the 1990s I would have called it a 'stand-out piece of science fiction'. It's somewhat terrifying, however, that the events depicted feel plausible; perhaps not now, but certainly in the near future. Thus, I will conclude instead by summarising it as an immersive glimpse at a potential technological future, which has you questioning the ultimate trajectory of humanity in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.