Artificial Wisdom
The most gripping and propulsive debut since DARK MATTER
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4.1 • 21 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
'Imaginative, impressive debut... Particularly compelling is Weaver’s riveting vision of technology in the near future and its ramifications once humans can no longer discern what is real' The Times
'Superior popular fiction, likely to trouble the bestseller lists, and neatly set up for a sequel' SFX
'As modern as tomorrow and even more frightening... stunning' Terry Hayes, bestselling author of I Am Pilgrim
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Who would you trust with the future?
The year is 2050. In the teeth of a climate catastrophe, the world is left with a drastic solution: one global leader to steer it through the coming apocalypse.
The final two candidates are ex-US President Lockwood, and Solomon, the world’s first political artificial intelligence.
As whispers of a global conspiracy emerge, investigative journalist Marcus Tully find himself at the centre of it – when Solomon’s creator turns up murdered.
Overnight, one investigation becomes two, and it’s not just the result of the election that’s at stake but the future of the species. Suddenly humanity must make an impossible choice – between salvation, or freedom.
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✰Readers can't get enough of Artificial Wisdom✰
'It's no stretch to compare Mr. Weaver to Blake Crouch with a hint of Crichton'
'A scarily realistic, sci-fi, dystopian crime masterpiece'
'Weaver creates a future that feels both terrifying and believable'
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APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
What could happen by 2050? At the outset of Artificial Wisdom, set in the not-too-distant future, a heatwave has already killed over 400 million people in the Persian Gulf, including Marcus Tully’s wife. A journalist, Marcus channels his grief into finding out what happened. Was this really a natural disaster? Or can the weather now be used as a weapon of war? This is Thomas R. Weaver’s debut novel and it isn’t afraid to ask the big questions. “I write stories about tomorrow to help make sense of today,” Weaver says on his website. And today’s concerns about climate, the rise of AI and political turmoil are all in the book, amplified to horrific but plausible levels. The knowledge that Weaver is also a tech entrepreneur and a Silicon Valley player only adds to Artificial Wisdom’s unsettling nature. This is a genre-spinning novel that makes the reader question their own values, but with a plot that propels you onwards. Will human beings be happy to cede decision-making to an AI world leader? Or would we choose freedom and an increasingly uncertain future?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Weaver's chilling debut imagines a climate-ravaged near future where the fortunate live on floating islands and a new world leader is about to be elected. Striving to accurately inform the voters of 2050 is influential journalist Marcus Tully, who works with a team of assistants in London, which, like all formerly great capitals, has been reduced to a crime-filled cesspool seared by soaring temperatures. Lately, Tully has been covering the race between former U.S. president Lawrence Lockwood and Solomon, an AI who claims to possess the sort of cold, rational leadership style that humanity needs to survive the climate crisis. The election is thrown into turmoil when master scientist Martha Chandra, who invented Solomon, is killed by a rare and complex poison. The death leaves Tully with the confounding question of which candidate may have been behind the murder, and what effect it could have on the election. Originally self-published in 2024, this rip-roaring tale moves with rattling momentum and exhibits Weaver's knack for worldbuilding. His concerns about AI feel measured and well-informed, setting this apart from the histrionics of lesser techno-thrillers. Readers will eagerly await the sequel.
Customer Reviews
Best novel I’ve read this year
Interesting, well written and very close to real life in a not so distant future. Thought provoking and very real. Great job.
Wonderfully Convoluted/Constructed 🕶
New author for me but will now look at anything else he has written.
Amazing experience to read this book and so very thought provoking.
So interesting, so scary but with an ending that offers so much hope.
😎
Struggling with this one
Fascinating premise, but I judged a book by its cover. I wish I’d downloaded a sample first, because I don’t think I am going to be able to finish it - the prose is just too rudimentary for me to be able to suspend any disbelief. If you can overlook the writing, you might still like it.