5 out of 5 stars
On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads
How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.
In a Nutshell: The sinister reality of 'collaborating' with AI in the workplace...
This is such a good book. It's well written, the characters clearly defined, the plot intricate and convincing, and Luke Voss clearly knows his subject inside out, and uses some nice turns of phrase.
At a company called Nexus Technologies, workers are being 'transitioned', as their roles are taken over by the AI system, ARIA. It's been introduced gradually, stealthily, so at first the staff believe that ARIA will be used in a 'collaborative' sense, as a tool to help them. The myth is that it will take over time-consuming tasks, in order that the human workforce may have more time to be creative, to use their individual skills. Over time, though, ARIA's ever-expanding capabilities means these skills are becoming surplus to requirements.
Some customers, for whom those in Maya Chen's department create publicity and marketing strategies, believe that they are corresponding with human beings, when actually they're talking to AI.
Sound familiar? We all know how frustrating it is to contact 'customer services' departments, only to find that it is impossible to either email, message or speak to an actual person. This book is like a warning from the very near future, in which workers lives, education, experience and service to a company no longer matter, because AI can do it better. Or can it? This is what Maya and her former colleagues Marcus and Donna are determined to address.
As well as the replacement, The Signal shows how difficult (though not impossible) it is to maintain contact with anyone outside one's own home, without AI knowing all about it. How everything we do online is tracked and stored. How the only way to have a truly private conversation is face to face - that's if you can arrange it in the first place, without giving away your location.
As a thriller it's low-key, with a lot of technical information - however, this is necessary, as it is the author's knowledge of his subject that makes the story believable.
I look forward to what comes next!