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Intelligent Design
At a shadowy company (Karoli Robotics Corporation) owned by a Sillicon Valley billionaire, a scientist named Jim creates an AI that can fool the Turing test at the same time as his colleague, Daniel, successfully synthesizes DNA in a test tube. Daniel's attempts to reanimate dead chimps using his discovery have been unsuccessful, but when his friend Laura Bocelli is killed by being trapped inside a lab freezer, Daniel is presented with the perfect specimen. However, Laura is irreparably brain dead.
Daniel and Jim join forces to reanimate Laura using the DNA technology as well as the AI, creating a brilliant but psychopathic new Laura.
A year later a young journalist starts digging into the new CEO of Karoli Robotics Corporation, Laura Bocelli, and finds more than she bargained for. Laura will do anything to protect her secret and her plan to engineer a race of AI Cyborgs made in her image.
Featuring: Sara Alexander, John Ammirati, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Edward Bluemel, Erin Doherty, Adam Fitzgerald, Mark Holden, Ryan Forde Iosco, Sandra-mae Luykx, Stuart Milligan, Elizabeth Moynihan, Christopher Ragland, Anna Rust, Derek Siow, Robert G Slade and Wyatt Warner.
Daniel and Jim join forces to reanimate Laura using the DNA technology as well as the AI, creating a brilliant but psychopathic new Laura.
A year later a young journalist starts digging into the new CEO of Karoli Robotics Corporation, Laura Bocelli, and finds more than she bargained for. Laura will do anything to protect her secret and her plan to engineer a race of AI Cyborgs made in her image.
Featuring: Sara Alexander, John Ammirati, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Edward Bluemel, Erin Doherty, Adam Fitzgerald, Mark Holden, Ryan Forde Iosco, Sandra-mae Luykx, Stuart Milligan, Elizabeth Moynihan, Christopher Ragland, Anna Rust, Derek Siow, Robert G Slade and Wyatt Warner.
4 pages, Audible Audio
Published January 23, 2020
2 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
December 24, 2020
As other reviewers have said, it has good production value. The voice acting is excellent. The story is broken up into episodes and it gets a little confusing at times. I agree with another reviewer that the episodes end a little too abruptly, but there is a clear demarcation between episodes.
The story: A rich patron is sponsoring pure science by hiring only the best and brightest to pursue their research fully funded, but his motives are not entirely pure. There are a couple of science projects that he has an eye on... the artificial intelligence project and the project to stop premature human death (like after a car accident). What they create is something else... not the same person... a cyborg. A would-be reporter is on the trail of accidental deaths from the same company until she becomes the target of possible "accident".
Any problems with this story? There was a time-shift where they switched from the young scientists toiling in their labs to year later in a news room where a young woman toiled on stories of the 26 best click-bait stories on the Internet and such. That was abrupt. Then the previous characters were reintroduced and it wasn't very smooth. I struggled to remember who was who.
Any modesty issues? None that I recall.
I'm not sure I would want to listen to this audiobook again.
The story: A rich patron is sponsoring pure science by hiring only the best and brightest to pursue their research fully funded, but his motives are not entirely pure. There are a couple of science projects that he has an eye on... the artificial intelligence project and the project to stop premature human death (like after a car accident). What they create is something else... not the same person... a cyborg. A would-be reporter is on the trail of accidental deaths from the same company until she becomes the target of possible "accident".
Any problems with this story? There was a time-shift where they switched from the young scientists toiling in their labs to year later in a news room where a young woman toiled on stories of the 26 best click-bait stories on the Internet and such. That was abrupt. Then the previous characters were reintroduced and it wasn't very smooth. I struggled to remember who was who.
Any modesty issues? None that I recall.
I'm not sure I would want to listen to this audiobook again.
February 28, 2022
The summary spoils the audiobook killing all the tension.
March 9, 2024
A very entertaining Audible experience, with a great cast.
October 27, 2021
Masterpiece!
April 6, 2024
This started off pretty well, but the ending was a bit shaky.
This book tells the story of two scientist in a top secret laboratory. One of the scientists, Daniel, investigates what happens in the human body, in the brain, spesifically. The other one, Jim is working on an AI project, so that his AI can beat Alan Turing Immitation Test and pose as a real human.
One day, an accident happens in the laboratory and the assistant to the scientist, gets locked up in a freezing room, almost freezing to death. Daniel tries to bring her back but he fails, they use Jim's AI program to revive her; they place the AI programming in the woman's brain.
Then this woman ends up the CEO of the company and a journalist wants to interview her, but she can't get through. Instead, she discovers that many people from the same laboratory died one after the other, and gets suspicious.
SPOILERS AHEAD
With the help of the journalist, the original scientists Daniel and Jim, who stopped working at the laboratory since then, find out that the AI was out of control. Copies of the same AI were produced with the same controlling error, so now, they are attacking humans. Our team barely escape with their lives.
This book tells the story of two scientist in a top secret laboratory. One of the scientists, Daniel, investigates what happens in the human body, in the brain, spesifically. The other one, Jim is working on an AI project, so that his AI can beat Alan Turing Immitation Test and pose as a real human.
One day, an accident happens in the laboratory and the assistant to the scientist, gets locked up in a freezing room, almost freezing to death. Daniel tries to bring her back but he fails, they use Jim's AI program to revive her; they place the AI programming in the woman's brain.
Then this woman ends up the CEO of the company and a journalist wants to interview her, but she can't get through. Instead, she discovers that many people from the same laboratory died one after the other, and gets suspicious.
SPOILERS AHEAD
With the help of the journalist, the original scientists Daniel and Jim, who stopped working at the laboratory since then, find out that the AI was out of control. Copies of the same AI were produced with the same controlling error, so now, they are attacking humans. Our team barely escape with their lives.
December 11, 2025
I almost exclusively listen to dramatized audiobooks, and this was one of the better ones with regards to production value. I also appreciated that when an action-packed scene occurred toward the end of the book, a narrator did step in briefly to explain what was going on so the listener wouldn't be left in the dark. The plot was also quite compelling, though my favorite part was the opening at the Institute, and I'd have preferred for the entire story to take place in that setting. When the story jumped to our other narrator, I felt it was a bit obvious what happened that we weren't being told (though not as obvious as people who read the plot summary must have found it; definitely go into this book blind if you can for the best chance of actually enjoying it).
December 28, 2020
Very enjoyable and well performed audio.
August 4, 2021
Very cool concept and ideas in a short form.
Crime mistery and science fiction wrapped around AI and robot technology.
Could happen within 10 years...
Crime mistery and science fiction wrapped around AI and robot technology.
Could happen within 10 years...
March 16, 2022
4.5 stars
September 6, 2020
I would really give this a 3.5 star. I listened to this book on audible. The production was phenomenal, it really was the best part of the experience. The production was episodic like old radio dramas, which was fun and made it easy to listen to in chunks when I was busy. My big complaint though is that each episode ended abruptly and didn’t often have a good transition between them.
The story concept was better than average and had an intriguing execution, but some of the characterizations were a bit over the top for me. The two main scientist leads felt authentic as did the original Laura, but everyone else felt a bit over done.
I also had mixed feelings about the social commentary, I wasn’t sure it was necessary because there really wasn’t enough time to go into the meat of the subjects covered. I thought the moral dilemma of science was crucial to the story and really deserved to be explored, but the commentary on people’s apathy was distracting and came across as 2D and convenient.
Overall, the story was suspenseful and enjoyable. Definitely worth a listen.
The story concept was better than average and had an intriguing execution, but some of the characterizations were a bit over the top for me. The two main scientist leads felt authentic as did the original Laura, but everyone else felt a bit over done.
I also had mixed feelings about the social commentary, I wasn’t sure it was necessary because there really wasn’t enough time to go into the meat of the subjects covered. I thought the moral dilemma of science was crucial to the story and really deserved to be explored, but the commentary on people’s apathy was distracting and came across as 2D and convenient.
Overall, the story was suspenseful and enjoyable. Definitely worth a listen.
October 7, 2021
Rossum called and he wants his robots back!
Found this on the Audible Plus catalog and took a chance. First, the talent has to work with the script provided to them. Between the hippo size plot holes coupled with the lazy first person Film Noir style narration the poor actors did the best they could.
Found this on the Audible Plus catalog and took a chance. First, the talent has to work with the script provided to them. Between the hippo size plot holes coupled with the lazy first person Film Noir style narration the poor actors did the best they could.
March 15, 2021
This was excellent! It was legit like a movie for your ears. The narration was spot on and the story was awesome. It grabbed my attention from the very first chapter.
September 30, 2021
A quick listen. Predictable but entertaining nonetheless.
January 4, 2023
I thought that this was a really interesting book with some good potential. I haven't read much sci-fi before and this audiobook had some very cool concepts. I loved the ideas of the research projects that the characters were working on. However, I think that this had so much potential to progress the storyline in a completely different way that would have led to a great plot twist. Of course, I won't mention any spoilers but I felt as though the ending or maybe the last few chapters could have been tied up in a nice little bow but instead there were a few loose ends.
Also, some that I personally like is when, for stories that have a lot of characters, for there to be some kind of description or mental image of each character but this audiobook just went by the distinction in people's voices and even some characters were just talked about and didn't actually talk themselves and I felt a little as though names were being thrown at me and that made the storyline a little more difficult to follow.
I think it was a good story and, because it was such a quick listen, I would consider listening to it again, if not for anything else then simply to just figure out which character was which a little better.
Also, some that I personally like is when, for stories that have a lot of characters, for there to be some kind of description or mental image of each character but this audiobook just went by the distinction in people's voices and even some characters were just talked about and didn't actually talk themselves and I felt a little as though names were being thrown at me and that made the storyline a little more difficult to follow.
I think it was a good story and, because it was such a quick listen, I would consider listening to it again, if not for anything else then simply to just figure out which character was which a little better.
April 3, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is my personal 5 star rating system because I’m too lazy to write a review for every book.
5 stars -> OMFG. I couldn’t stop listening. I was engaged from beginning to end. The story & narrator was amazing. I 100% recommend this book & author. I was able to clearly follow each and every character.
4 stars -> It was pretty good. I would’ve rated 5 stars, But either the ending was lacking, I struggled to keep up with characters, or the story didn’t keep me fully engaged. The narrator was pretty good as well. I’m on the fence about recommending this book, It could go either way.
3 Stars -> It was boring at times & I missed chunks of the story. I most likely struggled to keep up with character developments. The only way I would recommend this book is if it was part of a series. The narrator was most likely average or just couldn’t fix a mediocre book.
2 Stars -> It was pretty horrible. I used it as background noise because I hadn’t had a chance to search for another book. The book either had a bad narrator, The character development was non existent, or the story was hot garbage. I would not recommend this book.
1 Star -> The absolute only reason I listened to this book was because i had no time to search for another one & I needed background noise. It was 1 step up from listening to the radio. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my worst enemy. Everything about this book was terrible. This is only recommended for people on death row and have absolutely nothing else to read.
This is my personal 5 star rating system because I’m too lazy to write a review for every book.
5 stars -> OMFG. I couldn’t stop listening. I was engaged from beginning to end. The story & narrator was amazing. I 100% recommend this book & author. I was able to clearly follow each and every character.
4 stars -> It was pretty good. I would’ve rated 5 stars, But either the ending was lacking, I struggled to keep up with characters, or the story didn’t keep me fully engaged. The narrator was pretty good as well. I’m on the fence about recommending this book, It could go either way.
3 Stars -> It was boring at times & I missed chunks of the story. I most likely struggled to keep up with character developments. The only way I would recommend this book is if it was part of a series. The narrator was most likely average or just couldn’t fix a mediocre book.
2 Stars -> It was pretty horrible. I used it as background noise because I hadn’t had a chance to search for another book. The book either had a bad narrator, The character development was non existent, or the story was hot garbage. I would not recommend this book.
1 Star -> The absolute only reason I listened to this book was because i had no time to search for another one & I needed background noise. It was 1 step up from listening to the radio. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my worst enemy. Everything about this book was terrible. This is only recommended for people on death row and have absolutely nothing else to read.
February 23, 2026
The general concept of the story is intriguing, but when it comes to the telling there are bits that are off enough to ruin the illusion.
With any work of fiction, the reader enters into the reading experience with an unspoken agreement to suspend belief for a time. A great work of fiction will allow the reader to maintain that suspended belief throughout the storytelling experience. In this book, however, there are some small things along the way that pierce that veil. Some are small enough to give the reader a momentary tilt, but allow them to return to the fictional world. For me, that tilt moment was too important and caused me to question the entirety of the claims the story makes.
In the story itself the characters are compelling and interesting. The setup drew me in right away and I wish the story could have maintained that intrigue longer than it did.
With any work of fiction, the reader enters into the reading experience with an unspoken agreement to suspend belief for a time. A great work of fiction will allow the reader to maintain that suspended belief throughout the storytelling experience. In this book, however, there are some small things along the way that pierce that veil. Some are small enough to give the reader a momentary tilt, but allow them to return to the fictional world. For me, that tilt moment was too important and caused me to question the entirety of the claims the story makes.
In the story itself the characters are compelling and interesting. The setup drew me in right away and I wish the story could have maintained that intrigue longer than it did.
August 30, 2020
This was a amazing production and story. Filled with a full cast and sound effects. It really made the story immersive like it was playing a movie out in my head.
The story was also very well done, but admittedly it's a theme that's sorta been played out.
I enjoyed my time with it to be sufficiently entertained but it's no legendary work that I'll take with me forever. That's ok though, sometimes having a brief entertaining, high quality experience is perfectly fine.
I recommend the credit or daily deal on this. I'm a huge supporter of these full cast productions and totally want more books like this.
The story was also very well done, but admittedly it's a theme that's sorta been played out.
I enjoyed my time with it to be sufficiently entertained but it's no legendary work that I'll take with me forever. That's ok though, sometimes having a brief entertaining, high quality experience is perfectly fine.
I recommend the credit or daily deal on this. I'm a huge supporter of these full cast productions and totally want more books like this.
July 21, 2023
If you want to know why Ethics in AI is important then listen to this book.
It's about an institute, Karoli Robotics, which hires the best talent in many varied industries and allows them to continue their work with no limits. One of the experiments is on the brains on Chimpanzees and is extremely unethical. This leads down a dark path...
I really enjoyed this audiobook, especially that it was in episodes that were distinct from each other. Some of the other reviews said they didn't enjoy this, and they found it to be distracting.
It's about an institute, Karoli Robotics, which hires the best talent in many varied industries and allows them to continue their work with no limits. One of the experiments is on the brains on Chimpanzees and is extremely unethical. This leads down a dark path...
I really enjoyed this audiobook, especially that it was in episodes that were distinct from each other. Some of the other reviews said they didn't enjoy this, and they found it to be distracting.
August 18, 2024
Promising premise. Poor execution.
The book had a rather visionary premise that excites any Sci-Fi enthusiast. It stood out as a tribute to Alan Turing's ideas on machine intelligence. The book fused core idea of Imitation game of Turing test and humanity long questions about Mortality Unfortunately, around the halfway it took a different with its plot that had spoiled the experience for me. Nonetheless, a far commendable work than most of the audiobooks from audible. Definitely worth it.
The book had a rather visionary premise that excites any Sci-Fi enthusiast. It stood out as a tribute to Alan Turing's ideas on machine intelligence. The book fused core idea of Imitation game of Turing test and humanity long questions about Mortality Unfortunately, around the halfway it took a different with its plot that had spoiled the experience for me. Nonetheless, a far commendable work than most of the audiobooks from audible. Definitely worth it.
August 10, 2023
Storyline interesting. As others have said, abrupt/disconnected between episodes and the abrupt time jump was confusing.
Others have praised the production. Personally, I found the music between episodes very loud and out of sync with the volume of the narration.
Lastly, I did find it a little predictable. The final punchline was telegraphed from fairly early on, which was a shame. Especially as it came with an air of "Ooooo plot twist reveal" so it felt a bit flat, given that it had been fairly obvious (IMO) for quite a while.
Others have praised the production. Personally, I found the music between episodes very loud and out of sync with the volume of the narration.
Lastly, I did find it a little predictable. The final punchline was telegraphed from fairly early on, which was a shame. Especially as it came with an air of "Ooooo plot twist reveal" so it felt a bit flat, given that it had been fairly obvious (IMO) for quite a while.
March 9, 2023
So I wasn’t sure about the sudden switch from the science perspective to the journalism one so I was going to knock it down a star BUT THEN there was a twist AND THEN there was A TWIST ON TOP OF THAT and so I was sold. But then the ending was a bit flat for me so I knocked the fifth star off again :((
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2021
The performance was really nice but I didn't like the story. It felt poorly researched. I say this being in the psychology and data science, machine learning field.
The story was lacking originality and I was really disappointed with the ending.
The story was lacking originality and I was really disappointed with the ending.
December 28, 2021
Thrilling and exciting story about technology that goes bad. Very bad. The only problems are the many design flaws, like over explaining their evil plans...
A very well written, performed and produced.
A thrilling adventure.
A very well written, performed and produced.
A thrilling adventure.
July 4, 2023
Please someone edit the blurb for this! the description is nothing but spoilers and I'm lucky I didn't read it while I was listening. I really loved this audio drama but most of it relies on twists and turns completely ruined if someone reads the description.
CHANGE IT!
CHANGE IT!
November 19, 2024
Maybe 3 1/2 ⭐️ but I had a hard time buying in to this schlock-fest. That said I stayed at it until the end so there were some redeeming qualities. I just don’t think it warrants getting into it. Time kinda(not)well wasted.
April 9, 2026
Although I like the full production with multiple narrator style of audiobook, this wasn't one of the better ones I've listened to. The story got confusing at times. Mix between Sci-Fi and thriller. Interesting concept.
April 1, 2021
It's a fun listen, but i wish there was more to it, I guess. The voice acting is great though and it's very well done!
April 17, 2021
So engaging! I couldn’t stop once I started listening. The production value is out of this world! I wish there were more to this series. It was also free to listen to on audible.
August 5, 2021
Audio, 2.5 stars rounded up to 3
That was pretty predictable, but still interesting enough
That was pretty predictable, but still interesting enough
October 29, 2021
Far from original but well executed
3.5 stars rounded up
3.5 stars rounded up
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews