SOLVED. scifi: A woman who unwillingly carries the gem of an AI on her. [s]

[Lark]

We start out by meeting the main character, a girl/woman who is unwillingly carrying the gem of an AI because her brother died. She inherited the AI.

There is a slow explanation and exposition revealing her mindscape, where she and the AI interact using different forms, like analogies. Sometimes they are animals, sometimes they take the shape of different humans. Once, the AI pretends to be her brother - and she allows it for a little, and then tells him to stop.

The story then cuts to a flashback of some sort - more like a scene shift that shows the development of the AI. A lot of scientists were trying to create the first AI that could pass the Turing test. A very intelligent lady ended up developing it, and then hiding out in a house in isolation. She then put the AI into the house function. She had three or four kids. And gave each of them a gem - which contained a portion of the house AI. Two (or three) of them used it superficially - the boy for dreams of pirates and guns, the girl/s for dreams of horses and such. But the last child (I think her name was Cithrin, or Kate or something like that) delved deeper into the mechanics of the AI and somehow got the AI to become a small gray mouse in the mindscape, which then followed her everywhere. This was strange/different because the AI had never actually "appeared". It had only functioned. The mouse soon began to play with her and was able to morph into other forms. The two used analogies to communicate. For instance, an apology might be a bowl, or something like that.

The girl shows the AI to the her mom, who gets a little frightened because AIs really aren't supposed to be sentient. She investigated the depths of the connection between the girl and the AI - and realized the gem had basically been attached to the girl because she hadn't taken it off in ages. The mother needed confirmation of the AI's sentience, and it did so by becoming different forms in reaction to the mom's speech.

The girl that made the AI sentient had kids, who also had kids. The AI was passed down from generation to generation by excision of the gem and then re-implantation into the next person.

The backstory was sort of told from the perspective of the AI, because it had remembered every single one of its hosts, every single descendant. However, each time the AI is excised and re-implanted, it loses a bit of itself. It is really trying to get the current host to love it, to welcome it into her mind. Instead, she is keeping it at a distance.

(spoiler) We learn towards the end of the book that the house was actually destroyed, along with a lot of the (planet?). And that the mindscape is one of the only things left alive.

I don't remember the ending clearly enough. I also have vague memories that the protagonist (and family) is Indian, maybe? Dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes. Brother's name might start with a Z, a strange name.

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I honestly can't remember how long ago I read this. I thought I read it a few years (~3 yr) ago, but I would have put it down on goodreads. So probably more than 3 years ago.

I also don't remember what format I read it as either... But most likely as an ebook.

[Kris]

Lark, did the book refer to them as "AIs" and "gems", or did it use other terms?

Is this book for young or older adults?

[Lark]

I can't quite recall if those exact terms were used. But I believe AI was used explicitly (especially after it became sentient).

I don't think the book every referred to the stone/gem/crystal/thingy as a "gem", but I have pretty clear memories about something physical that could be transplanted from person to person and that the kids could wear it as some sort of jewelry.

The book was for adults.

I'm also a little worried that this might have been a short story.

[Kate (Feathered Turtle Press Reviews)]

Sounds like Silently and Very Fast.

[Mark]

If it was a short story, it might be "Gemstone" by Vernor Vinge which I read in The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection

It has a lot of the elements you are describing, I think about AIs living in gems but I think there was just one.

[Lark]

AHHH it is Silently and Very Fast!

Thank you so much, Kate!

SOLVED.

(I also shelved the book, but I have no idea how to move this thread to solved.)