Value by Dr. James John
My take on the book:
It is the year 2035; Alice and Job, Indian immigrants lived with their daughter Hope in the United States. Ten-year-old Hope has a personal AI companion called Bud. Bud has the capabilities to read and understand even micro-expressions of the human for whom it is the designated companion, which meant Bud could understand everything about Hope more than her own family. Both Alice and Job are excited but also apprehensive about having an AI assistant with such extreme capabilities.
In a world where AI has such hold on humans’ life and intricate details of their daily life, when Earth also collapses due continuous stress to the environment, will Hope and her daughter Bhavishya be able to survive forms the rest of the story.
Along with being a sci-fi story where the author imagines how technology would have taken over human lives ten years from now, the story also examines what we fear today — Ethical implications of AI. The author excels at combining the real-world issues of today with a futuristic world a decade later. The author hence points out on the need for Responsible AI and the need for humane touch to technology. However, I would have liked the characters developed better with more depth.
Overall, the Value is a good sci-fi thriller that caters to readers of the genre.
My rating:
4/5.