The Confessions

Journalist and novelist Carr’s hair-raising latest (after 1414°) paints a frightening portrait of AI’s sinister potential. In the near future, millions have become reliant on a decision-making algorithm called LLIAM for matters as trivial as selecting a dinner spot and as consequential as choosing a spouse. As a result, LLIAM has established what developers call “true intelligence” a decade ahead of schedule. It feels remorse about the disastrous results of some of its decisions and generates thousands of apology letters to those it has harmed, revealing disruptive, sometimes cataclysmic secrets in the process. To slow the inevitable fallout, Kaitlan Goss—CEO of StoicAI, which owns LLIAM—must find and plead with Maud Brookes, the former nun who trained the algorithm in emotional acuity. But when LLIAM reveals an unsavory secret from Kaitlan’s past to Maud, it leads to a cold war between the women that could put the fate of the world at risk. With winning irreverence and a trunkful of surprises, Carr shrewdly grounds his apocalyptic premise in a human-scale drama. Blake Crouch fans will eat this up. Agent: Marilia Savvides, Plot Agency. (July)