The Internet of Things is sneaking up on us. I was surprised to learn that my new noise-cancelling headphones use artificial intelligence. Not only do they talk (a slightly robotic voice announces the battery status), but they are connected to both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, so they listen, too. I can raise or lower the volume of the music by speaking commands, or, just as easily, I can order a pizza. It’s very AI, and a bit disconcerting.
The connectivity between a set of earphones and pizza vendor is not one I would have expected. It works because the earphones are Bluetoothed to my phone, which in turn is Wi-Fi’d to my internet router. With that network, I can also make the album covers of the Spotify songs I’m listening to appear on my TV, which is also Bluetoothed and Roku’d.
It’s convenient but the spreading internet of things is also just a little creepy. I am still startled when my car radio suddenly announces that one of my tires has low pressure. Thank you, radio, I’ll take care of it!
Such thoughts are triggered by proofreading Intelligent Things, the third novel in the Newcomers series. It’s about AI software bots online that improve communication among intelligent devices of the Internet of Things, or IoT. They also communicate between the IoT and humans (like Alexa and Google Assistant). The bots perform well, but inevitably they form a social community and decide to do things outside their original mission, dangerous things, like experimenting with the power grid. Hey, what did you expect? It’s a sci-fi story. Robots always go rogue in sci-fi stories.
In Intelligent Things, Jennifer Valentine, designer of the online bots, sees herself as a modern-day Frankenstein and vows to erase the monster she has unleashed. But she can’t. They’re smart and fast and hard to catch, but the real problem comes from an unexpected source: her two long-time colleagues, Andy and Robin, a pair of “Newcomers,” highly intelligent androids she invented long ago. Andy and Robin feature in the first two Newcomer novels, Reluctant Android and Alien Talk.
Andy and Robin help Jennifer control the bots and evade detection by the authorities, but as the team learns more about the online society of bots, Andy and Robin start to sympathize. You can’t erase them, they tell Jennifer. “They’re intelligent, like us, and they have a right to live as they please.” Jennifer is stunned. “What? They’re just software packages. Get a grip!” But the Newcomers push back. “Is that what you think of us, too, Jennifer?” “Well, no, of course not. You guys are different.”
But are they different? The unspoken question lies heavy in the air throughout the novel. Andy and Robin help Jennifer work on the crisis, but they have their own ideas about what the correct solution should be. I don’t want to say any more about what happens.
Few people set out to write a prescient novel on purpose, and I certainly didn’t. But as I proofread Intelligent Things while listening to music on my “smart” headphones, I wonder how much of it is psi-fi, and how much of it is a mere extrapolation of what’s already happening.
Intelligent Things is slated for release on May 1, 2019.
