Helen Phillips' 6 favorite books about robotic companions

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Helen Phillips is the author of "The Need," a singular 2019 thriller longlisted for the National Book Award. In her new novel, "Hum," an artificial intelligence expert made obsolete by AI takes her family on a three-night escape to an urban botanical garden.

'Klara and the Sun' by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021)

Klara is a solar-powered android bought to provide companionship to a wealthy, isolated teenager. As Klara becomes ever more embedded in the family, her role grows murkier. This story explores the potential use and misuse of robots. All the while, Klara narrates with great sensitivity. Buy it here.

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'The School for Good Mothers' by Jessamine Chan (2021)

After Frida is witnessed during a momentary but significant lapse in her judgment as a new mother, she is declared an unfit parent. She can redeem herself and regain custody of her daughter only by proving to the state that she can successfully mother a robot child. Maternal love and anxiety are inextricably intertwined in this brilliant debut. Buy it here.

'Little Eyes' by Samanta Schweblin (2018)

In this novel, originally published in Spanish, "kentukis" are cute little robotic pets. But they are also surveillance devices that enable strangers around the world to enter the homes and lives of each kentuki's owner. Through this conceit, Schweblin investigates the ways that our technologies can both link us together and sever us from one another. Buy it here.

'The Artist in the Machine' by Arthur I. Miller (2019)

Miller's exquisitely researched book makes a case for the positive potential of human-AI collaboration. What if, rather than rendering humans obsolete, artificial intelligence enables us to create ever more sublime works of art? Buy it here.

'Artificial Intelligence: An Illustrated History' by Clifford A. Pickover (2019)

Pickover's illustrated history explores, in one-page entries, humans' fascination with artificial intelligence, starting in 1300 B.C. and continuing through the present day. With entries such as "da Vinci's Robot Knight," "ELIZA Psychotherapist," and "AI Death Predictor," the book provides a wide-ranging and riveting evocation of AI over time. Buy it here.

'Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age' by Sherry Turkle (2015)

This insightful book examines the ways the technologies that surround us can interfere with empathy. Turkle shows that it is alarmingly easy for humans to forge what feel like meaningful bonds with robots/AI, but such relationships lack the depth and complexity — and resultant intimacy — of human connections. Buy it here.

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