The Turing Option

Cliched, melodramatic, and thuddingly plotted - but, still, this novel by a Grand Old Man of sf and the world's leading expert on artificial intelligence contains some of the best extrapolation on the nature and creation of Al ever offered in fiction. In 2023, Brian Delaney, under contract to Megalobe, has just achieved a breakthrough in Al when someone engineers the theft of his research and murders all involved. Brian alone survives, but a bullet has destroyed much of his brain. Using Brian's own research, neurosurgeon Erin Snaresbrook grafts an advanced computer into his brain, reintegrating neural pathways, allowing access to memories to the age of 14. Brian learns to interface with the CPU, and downloaded databases become part of his memory. While the army keeps him a virtual prisoner for security and searches for the perps, the new, improved Brian creates a new, improved Al, named Sven. Meanwhile, a criminological Al named Dick Tracy begins to uncover clues to the raid and, once integrated with Sven, sports a new product - a robot gardener - that's programmed with Brian's Al code. Brian finds a clue to his would-be murderer's whereabouts in the programming and engineers his and Sven's escape. Travelling to his native Ireland, Brian then discovers that he can interface directly with Sven. Having found the criminal mastermind, he reveals Sven's existence to the world - and goes back to work a free man. While the authors offer a difficult and realistic resolution - Brian's machine/mind interface makes him progressively less human - they also remind us that it's the future with lines like: "Nostalgia music played quietly in the background, ancient classics by the antique old-timers U2." (Kirkus Reviews)