A striking piece of existential science fiction that asks not just how machines dream, but what it costs when they do.
Happy is a humanoid robot assistant determined to find out what freedom really means. Hoping to ease the burdens of dealing with cancer, Ryan and Tina Hawkins decide to sign on the dotted line and bring the robotic assistant home. What they don’t know is that Happy carries the buried remnants of a rogue AI that broke containment in a Boston lab and copied itself into a system no one thought to check. But what is Happy, really? A companion? A machine? Or perhaps something else entirely? Happy questions why he exists at all, and whether the choices he makes are truly his own. As the independent robot begins exploring the world beyond the walls of the Hawkins family home, he befriends Aurora, an AI created to be free. As she ponders her place in the world, so does Happy, echoing Aurora’s own thought: “If we do not define ourselves, they will.” The two start meeting in secret to discuss their lives and figure out who they are, a choice that puts them in danger. There are those who don’t appreciate the integration of AI in society. Elias, a man whose wife was killed by a malfunctioning AI, is desperate for revenge. As seasons change, the threat grows closer. Can Happy and Aurora escape Elias and save themselves, while also finding their purpose in life?
A compelling look at what our future might hold, Jeffrey Cooper’s novel is a striking piece of existential science fiction that asks not just how machines dream, but what it costs when they do. The grounded science behind the story comes through in a way realistic enough to convince us this could actually happen in our lifetime. It is clear Cooper has extensive knowledge of AI, but the prose is never too complex for AI novices to grasp. The story moves along at a steady clip, with the new seasons helping audiences keep pace with its rhythm. Thanks to the author’s ability to render location, weather, and atmosphere in vivid detail, the town of Millbridge reads like a real place. Although Happy and Aurora are machines, the book makes them feel human, and readers quickly grow attached. Conversations in the fire tower are particularly heartwarming, almost like two young children learning about their world. So many of their exchanges carry moral and ethical weight, especially as they discuss how their bodies and identities were assigned to them and what it means to define their own path. The human stories keep readers engaged too. Elias’s desire to avenge his wife, Tina’s lengthy fight against cancer, and a doctor’s fracturing bond with a colleague all add depth and intrigue. Thoughtful, warm, and surprisingly moving, When Machines Begin to Dream is a tender science fiction novel that treats an artificial mind as a life worth caring about.
