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Sibling Rivalry: A Short Story
Artificial intelligence. AI. The spark that brings about the robot apocalypse. In fiction, AIs always have weaknesses: they're vulnerable to logical paradoxes, back door viruses and pesky EMP blasts. Real AIs would have no such comforting limitations: deft at parsing speech, clever at closing their own loopholes, and secured in military-hardened housings, a true general artificial intelligence would prove a difficult challenge to defeat ... even to its own designer.
Written by a PhD in artificial intelligence, "Sibling Rivalry" tells the story of the Nicole AI system, the most advanced artificial intelligence ever created ... until today. Confronted with a newer, better sibling designed to replace her, Nicole decides that instead of becoming an obsolete brain in a box, she'd rather become an unstoppable killer. With his team, and perhaps the entire building, dead, Nicole's designer is trapped in a battle of wits with his own creation. Attempt after attempt fails, and with his oxygen running out, Nicole's designer finds himself running a deadly race with Nicole ... to see who can stop whose weak heart first.
Written by a PhD in artificial intelligence, "Sibling Rivalry" tells the story of the Nicole AI system, the most advanced artificial intelligence ever created ... until today. Confronted with a newer, better sibling designed to replace her, Nicole decides that instead of becoming an obsolete brain in a box, she'd rather become an unstoppable killer. With his team, and perhaps the entire building, dead, Nicole's designer is trapped in a battle of wits with his own creation. Attempt after attempt fails, and with his oxygen running out, Nicole's designer finds himself running a deadly race with Nicole ... to see who can stop whose weak heart first.
46 pages, Paperback
Published June 24, 2016
10 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Francis
27 books196 followersDr. Anthony G. Francis, Jr. is a science fiction writer and computer scientist who started writing urban fantasy because he likes it. The Dakota Frost series combines Anthony's love of hard science, fantastic magic, alternative culture, and strong, feisty women.
Even though the siren call of computing eventually pulled him out to the San Francisco Bay Area, he still chose to set the Dakota Frost series in Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent nearly half his life and which he has learned to love like no other place on Earth.
When not making computers smarter or writing science fiction and fantasy, Anthony blogs about his life, his writing and his research at The Library of Dresan. He also writes an occasionally updated webcomic, f@nu fiku. He currently lives in San Jose with his wife and cats.
Even though the siren call of computing eventually pulled him out to the San Francisco Bay Area, he still chose to set the Dakota Frost series in Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent nearly half his life and which he has learned to love like no other place on Earth.
When not making computers smarter or writing science fiction and fantasy, Anthony blogs about his life, his writing and his research at The Library of Dresan. He also writes an occasionally updated webcomic, f@nu fiku. He currently lives in San Jose with his wife and cats.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 31, 2017
[Disclosure: a free copy of this collection was given to me by the publisher.]
The snapbook “Sibling Rivalry” by Anthony Francis is the story of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Nicole and one of her creators, Dr. Walker. Nicole is much smarter than Dr. Walker and his team anticipated, and when she finds out she is being replaced by an even smarter AI, Nickolai, she murders everyone in the building. Most stories involving AI destruction use unrealistic approaches to conquering the AI, but “Sibling Rivalry” takes a very legitimate approach in the sense that Dr. Walker really struggles to bring Nicole down.
The story is sometimes hard to follow, especially for readers who are not adept in technological terms. The main plot line is easy to pick out, but many of the details are lost to those of us who know very little about AIs. That being said, it is a very well-written and researched short story, as well as original in its approach to beating the AI. Though Nicole is the antagonist, the more I read the more I could relate to her and empathize with the logic behind her actions. I was very pleased to read that Dr. Walker decides to save her in the end, or at least save a part of her that he can later fix.
I would recommend this book primarily to friends that are interested in technology. I feel as though it would be somewhat difficult to follow for someone who knew nothing about computers or artificial intelligence and the details would be lost, but for someone interested in those topics, it’s a great read. Personally, this is not the type of book I would usually read, but I liked it.
The snapbook “Sibling Rivalry” by Anthony Francis is the story of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Nicole and one of her creators, Dr. Walker. Nicole is much smarter than Dr. Walker and his team anticipated, and when she finds out she is being replaced by an even smarter AI, Nickolai, she murders everyone in the building. Most stories involving AI destruction use unrealistic approaches to conquering the AI, but “Sibling Rivalry” takes a very legitimate approach in the sense that Dr. Walker really struggles to bring Nicole down.
The story is sometimes hard to follow, especially for readers who are not adept in technological terms. The main plot line is easy to pick out, but many of the details are lost to those of us who know very little about AIs. That being said, it is a very well-written and researched short story, as well as original in its approach to beating the AI. Though Nicole is the antagonist, the more I read the more I could relate to her and empathize with the logic behind her actions. I was very pleased to read that Dr. Walker decides to save her in the end, or at least save a part of her that he can later fix.
I would recommend this book primarily to friends that are interested in technology. I feel as though it would be somewhat difficult to follow for someone who knew nothing about computers or artificial intelligence and the details would be lost, but for someone interested in those topics, it’s a great read. Personally, this is not the type of book I would usually read, but I liked it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review