We, Robots

Science fiction author Simon Ings selects 100 of the best short stories on artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence in 100 stories. To ready us for the inevitable, here are 100 of the best short stories ever written – most of them by humans – about robots and artificial minds. Read them while you can, learn from them, and make your preparations... From 1837 through to the present day, from Charles Dickens to Cory Doctorow, this collection contains the most diverse collection of robots ever assembled. Anthropomorphic robots, invertebrate AIs, thuggish metal lumps and wisps of manufactured intelligence so delicate if you blinked you might miss them.

The literature of robots and artificial intelligence is so wildly diverse, in both tone and intent, that our stories form six thematic collections. It's Alive! is about inventors and their creations. Following the Money drops robots into the day-to-day business of living. Owners and Servants considers the human potentials and pitfalls of owning and maintaining robots. Changing Places looks at what happens at the blurred interface between human and machine minds. All Hail the New Flesh waves goodbye to the physical boundaries that once separated machines from their human creators.

Succession considers the future of human and machine consciousnesses – in so far as we might have one. With 100 stories spanning an order of magnitude more pages, Simon Ings's We, Robots is the new overlord of all robot literary compendiums. Welcome it.

About the Author

Simon Ings has written three novels and many short stories and film scripts, as well as journalism.