In this captivating tale, the author explores the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to humanity, perhaps the most important issue of our day.
Elizabeth Foster is a software and robotic engineer. Inquisitive and analytical, she earned herself a lead position at a construction company building 3D printed homes. Every morning before work, she meets at The Agora coffee house with her long time friends Sebastian, a physician, and Xavier, a former sergeant turned history teacher. Each friend brings a unique perspective to the conversations. Lately their discussions seem to revolve around the proper place for AI in human society, a topic more apt than they realize.
Soon, local citizens experience strange malfunctions of technology previously thought to be safe. The result is destruction and chaos. At the construction site, something goes wrong with the AI foreman, nearly killing every human worker. With her friends, Elizabeth must discover the source of the malfunctions before they turn deadly.
What they find exceeds their imaginations, causing the friends to ask themselves what place humanity has, if any, in an increasingly AI society.