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Synopsis:

Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the cute outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard.

She’s learning, too.

Doug says he loves that Annie’s artificial intelligence makes her seem more like a real woman, but the more human Annie becomes, the less perfectly she behaves. As Annie’s relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder whether Doug truly desires what he says he does. In such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?

Review:

I read Annie Bot quite some time ago, and my opinion of the story has evolved over time. At the crux of the story, Annie Bot is an android that is learning about being a better partner through artificial intelligence, learning to be the partner that Doug wants her to be. The truth is that this novel is not about Annie Bot as much as a character study in the way that Doug treats women and behaves in relationships. When she is brought home, Annie Bot is someone who is there to clean and help around the house. Doug decides to switch her to the companion mode, to becomes his romantic partner, and from there, Doug tries to mold her into who he wants her to be. He purchases Annie Bot as a response to the break up of his marriage, and the truth is that through the novel, we discover that he has not learned a thing about the dissolution of his previous relationships and that there are plenty of reasons why his previous relationship did not work. Annie Bot is the perfect companion for him because anyone with their own opinions and personality is not going to tolerate his behavior. 

There are more and more novels that have artificial intelligence as an aspect of the story, and many of center on an android that is learning about life and the things surrounding them. Many of these stories present a healthy fear of AI because the truth is that we do not want machines that can outwit us. Maybe it comes back to watching 2001: A Space Odyssey. The AI can be smarter than us, know more facts and what the weather is like outside at any time, but the moment that they can manipulate the situation and defeat us is the moment that we fear. We are okay with AI helping make life a little easier, but we do not want to be replaced, and we do not want Artificial Intelligence to be favored over the difficult work that we do simply because it is easier and cheaper. The truth is that regardless of how great an artificial intelligence program can be, it cannot replace a person or a relationship. In Annie Bot, Doug uses Annie Bot not only to grieve but to try to replace something that he is missing. This type of relationship between person and machine will never be satisfying in the same way that a real personal relationship would be, and Doug knows this but he ignores it. Instead he keeps trying and digging deeper into a hole that an artificial program cannot fill.

In the end, Annie Bot spends less time on the science and technology aspect of the story and more time on the way that the relationship unfolds. This is more of an exploration of several different ways that we interact with technology, sometimes using it to help, sometimes abusing it for fun, sometimes ignoring it all together. The final truth is that technology, no matter how advanced or enticing, will never be an adequate replacement for a human relationship.