The Seeker (2014)

The Seeker by thricedotted, is, I think, my favorite work from NaNoGenMo 2014. It’s the autobiography of an AI trying to learn about human behavior by reading WikiHow. Step by step, it traces the story of the algorithm, fumbling and dreaming of the alien behaviors it is trying to comprehend.

The book is carefully structured, with the repetition of the Work, Scan, Imagine loop gradually building towards a conclusion. While each individual page is relies on a sense of ambiguous apophenia, its position in the structure hints at the story of an AI struggling to come to terms with humanity. 

The congruence between the algorithm and the fictional story that frames it is one reason why this works so well, I think. There’s enough transparency that we can anticipate the gradual learning process, giving each page a place in the progression. This is a documentation of an algorithm, more literally than usual.

While you’re unlikely to find it a page turner, when I read it I do feel as if the machine author’s final statement is a fitting conclusion to the work as a whole.

https://github.com/thricedotted/theseeker/

https://github.com/thricedotted/theseeker/raw/master/the_seeker.pdf