This week, Futures is pleased to welcome back Karlo Yeager Rodríguez with his story Iago v2.0. Regular readers, will remember Karlo’s first story for Futures, Choices, in sequential order, which took us on an uncomfortable visit to an alien world. This time, Karlo is exploring the world of AI in a similarly uncomfortable manner. You can find out more about Karlo’s work on his website or by following him on Twitter. Here, he reveals a little more about the inspiration behind his latest tale — as ever, it pays to read the story first.

Writing Iago v2.0

For Iago 2.0, I wanted to show not only how technology has permeated our lives, but also how the thirst for new content drives less-than-optimal solutions. Just as old series and movies are rebooted because it’s a sound business decision, so does it seem that history’s wheel cycles to a new version of something we’ve seen before. 

Although I love our wired world, I am also wary that technology — by flattening the world so it fits on one screen — can also be used to alienate us from one another. A personalized AI that sincerely wants to please its audience (while also satisfying a media company’s profit motive) is exactly the type of overbearing personality that would kill you with kindness.

Initially, I was going to reference Cyrano de Bergerac in the title of this story, but realized I needed someone more sinister whispering in your ear.