September 2024 Short story: "Failure to Convert" by Shih-Li Kow

[Natalie]

This month's short story can be found here: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kow_...

[Natalie]

This month's short story is about "clones" or robots.

[Oleksandr]

Natalie wrote: "This month's short story is about "clones" or robots."

and about 'can we, humans, use sentient things we created as things/tools, up to abandoning/discarding them?'

[Natalie]

Right, Oleksandr. The characters in the story are advanced AI who eat, work, do sports, interact with humans. But the line of what makes an AI more human is somewhat fuzzy. Are they worth keeping around or are they disposable?
"Clones" can take a conversion exam which gives them closer relationships with humans and a right to live longer. The narrator, Zakaria, is unable to pass the exams (thus the title) but her thoughts and observations seem very human.
This theme of how sentient is found in quite a few "robot" stories. In this one, I found myself feeling sympathy for the clone and her efforts to extend her existence.

[Sabri]

Thoughtful tale touching on identity, humanity (humanness?) and bigotry.

Like Natalie I found myself liking and sympathising with the plucky, self-assured Xin.

The biomarker angle was interesting. It reminds me of how my wife and I are trialling a new gym where there's a machine that tells you your "biomechanical age". I won't say what mine was but it's funny how a number can invoke strong emotions about youth and death.

The character names seem to be quite diverse. I wondered whether there was a purpose behind their choosing so I looked up some of the meanings:

Zakaria - Remembered by God

Xin - Beautiful, elegant

Waheeda - Unique, singular

Lao - Happiness, prosperity

[Oleksandr]

Sabri wrote: "The character names seem to be quite diverse. I wondered whether there was a purpose behind their choosing so I looked up some of the meanings:
"

Thanks, this adds to the story

[Ryan]

Somehow missed this one. Glad I got around to it. A good story that examines ethical and societal issues that might arise with clones of famous people.

I'm a bit surprised to read the comments mentioning AI and robots. Am I reading it incorrectly? To me, it seems the clones are basically biologically human, the only differences being the synthetic wombs and some kind of neural jumpstart - neither of which is a significant enough leap from human to start calling the clones AIs or robots.