There are many novels in the Speculative Fiction genre (or Science Fiction, as you prefer) which refer somehow to Artificial Intelligence. Most of them are about robots, such as Asimov‘s Robot series. In general, they are entertaining, some of them are extraordinary, and a few raise interesting questions about technology and how we use it.

Above all, there are just a handful of Speculative Fiction stories that I frequently recall, as they exemplify, like no other, our obsession with Artificial Intelligence and other digital technologies. They unveil the dark side of those machines that interfere with our lives and thoughts, and which may become an addictive technology. They also expose the fantasies about absolute power that may arise in some individuals or organisations. Not only that, but they explore the consequences on a society that is too naïve about the intentions of the corporations that gather our data and offer us their technology. Are we creating an idol called Artificial Intelligence to worship it?

Below is a brief review of these novels, that I find most relevant to the evolution of the technology landscape and their impact on us. They are listed by publication date.

Quixote and the Windmill by Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson published Quixote and the Windmill in the November 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. He portrays in this story a future in the Earth when we have achieved full automatisation. In this scenario, two men drink in a bar and share their frustration for feeling irrelevant. While annoyance builds up, they get in contact with a robot, who also shares its striking perspective.

This story exemplifies the defeat of humans in front of their creations. However, it brings a fresh perspective: the situation the AI reaches. Don’t let me spoil the story, and just read it.

Quixote and the Windmill is a classic story of the Science Fiction genre. You can read it online for free in English, and other several languages the tale was translated to. If you rather listen to this story, there are various options as well, such as the fantastic narration that Juan Carlos Albarracín, a well-known voiceover actor, performed in Spanish in his iVoox channel.

Mockingbird by Walter Tevis

Mockingbird is a novel by Walter Tevis. It was published in 1980 and nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1981. Since this novel has become a Science Fiction classic, you can easily find it in English (its original language) or translated into many languages.

In Mockingbird, Walter Tevis explores a dystopian future in which human beings have relied so heavily on robots for so long that they have become illiterate. Furthermore, people have lost the capacity to create or even fix the technology that sustains those robots, so as robots decay, society disappears with them. The control of robots over human beings is such that robots implement birth control measures on the population to the point of extinction. Also, people is heavily doped to help them cope with the boredom of not having anything to do.

QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling

QualityLand is one of the funniest and most innovative Speculative Fiction novels I’ve ever read. Written by Marc-Uwe Kling in 2019, it enjoyed some success, so it has been translated from German (Ullstein Taschenbuch) into English (Grand Central Publishing), Spanish (Tusquets), French (Babel), Italian (Feltrinelli), Portuguese (Editora Planeta do Brasil), and Catalonian (Edicions del Periscopi). In addition, it has a sequel called QualityLand 2.0.

Kling develops in QualityLand the idea of a world in which algorithms shape, regulate, and optimise relationships and processes within communities. For example, they choose your partner.

To provide algorithms with the most accurate data to make decisions, citizens are constantly evaluated. So people lose points if they don’t perform as expected, preventing them from progressing or obtaining necessary goods.

In addition, one single online store became a monopoly on retail for all items required by the population, and it knows better than users what they need and when. Among other peculiarities of the procedures of this retailer, customers must kiss their devices’ screens to confirm a purchase.

Under these premises, it is to be expected that everything should work smoothly in this society, including jobs, spare time, and relationships. However, the protagonist of this novel, an antihero, feels he is losing ground: he can’t succeed according to the algorithms’ goals. In his quest to survive, he meets a drone that is scared of flying and a robot with post-traumatic stress, both of whom become partners in the protagonist’s misfortune.

Sick Machines by Alberto Chimal

Alberto Chimal is a Mexican writer who stands out for his treatment of modern technologies. A few days before writing this post, in October 2025, he published Las máquinas enfermas in Spain and Mexico, whose title translates as Sick Machines.

This book contains nine Speculative Fiction tales about Generative AI. In a mixture of humour and horror, Chimal examines how Generative AI may impact us. In one of his tales, a highly advanced AI product malfunctions, leaving its users —CEOs and Prime Ministers— unable to perform their tasks, as they had become dependent on their AI devices. Furthermore, these decision-level users have developed an addiction to their devices. In another story, workers accept that companies they work for implant devices in their brains to optimise productivity. When devices fail, causing severe injuries to workers, companies decline all responsibility. There is also a story in which Generative AI solutions take a step forward and become autonomous in the broader sense of the term. They team up to commit acts of violence against people.

Since Las máquinas enfermas (Sick Machines) is very new, it has not yet been translated. I hope, though, that it is done soon, as Chimal raises terribly relevant questions on Generative AI.

Chimal has been interviewed about this book several times. Among other things, he says:

In a world where fake news propagate as wildfire, distinguishing between fiction and reality will be tough, especially if it persists the severe educational deficiency in using these Generative AI tools. As in a totalitarian regime, we risk no longer being able to believe in anything.

Viñas, 2025. Quotation translated by me.

Below is a video of Chimal reading a piece from one of his tales. You can switch on the subtitles if you don’t speak Spanish.

Comics

There are fantastic graphic novels on Speculative Fiction about new technologies, including robots, such as Universe! by Albert Monteys. However, none of them stimulates me to reflect on Artificial Intelligence and the challenges our society faces, like the novels I have just mentioned.

However, the comic essay Le monde sans fin (World Without End) by Christophe Blain and Jean-Marc Jancovici frequently comes to my mind. One of the things it discusses is the energy demands and ecological impact due to the carbon footprint of new technologies, such as cloud computing and AI. This graphic essay has become very popular in Europe, and it has been translated into several EU languages.

References

Viñas, V. (2025, October 16). Alberto Chimal: «La tecnología da forma a nuestros demonios». In Diario de León. Retrieved October 29th, 2025, from https://www.diariodeleon.es/cultura/251016/2063007/tecnologia-da-forma-demonios.html