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katharine_opal 's review for:
Pixels of You
by Yuko Ota, Ananth Hirsh
(Rating is 3.5)
I have mixed feelings about this. I liked many things, such as the world-building, the character designs, and the art style. I liked the small blurbs about how programmers can program prejudices into their AI, and how an AI can create racist algorithms, neither of them being on purpose. If you use any site that uses an algorithm, there are countless creators of color talking about how algorithms will suppress them, just because they're POC. It reminded me of the quote by Samuel R. Delany; "Science fiction is not about the future; it uses the future as a narrative convention to present significant distortions of the present." But the thing I didn't like is that the entire story felt like it never dove that deep, into either the characters or the plot. It only brushed the surface, when I really wanted it to go deeper. Like, how did the AI robots come to be? Why are they able to be self-governing, and I assume be counted as full citizens? [If they have the option to either look more robotic or to look more human, why do so many of them choose to still look robotic?]* Is there a class system among AI because it seemed like might be? If the AI have a class system within themselves, do the humans ALSO still have a class system? How do AI and human class systems intersect? I know these are all considered superfluous questions, but if you raise the point then you can't expect me to ignore it! Also, I would like to point out, I did not realize Fawn is an AI with a "human chassis" until it was explicitly stated in the story. Which affects how I viewed Fawn and Indira's first interaction. I was confused why Indira was being so rude to her for no reason, and why Fawn was being so bratty. I also feel like they didn't go too deeper into the characters and their motivations. Unless I am very dumb and didn't understand it? There are several scenes of Indira...hallucinating? Is she actually hallucinating or is it an artist's representation of chronic pain and anxiety? *[Also, I just reread the GR blurb and noticed that it says "Fawn is one of the first human-presenting AI". Uh. I don't recall that fact being mentioned in the book, at all. That also answers my previous questions of why I didn't see any other "human presenting" AI in the book, and why Fawn is called a "spoiled rich kid" in one scene.] Which baffled me, because they showed her home, and it's fairly modest. Its major perk is that it does have some nice art and that it has some nice representation. Overall, I felt like I was skimming through the book when that's just how the plot is written. I really wanted to like it more, but I just can't. Pity, since I love the artists and authors' other works!
I have mixed feelings about this. I liked many things, such as the world-building, the character designs, and the art style. I liked the small blurbs about how programmers can program prejudices into their AI, and how an AI can create racist algorithms, neither of them being on purpose. If you use any site that uses an algorithm, there are countless creators of color talking about how algorithms will suppress them, just because they're POC. It reminded me of the quote by Samuel R. Delany; "Science fiction is not about the future; it uses the future as a narrative convention to present significant distortions of the present." But the thing I didn't like is that the entire story felt like it never dove that deep, into either the characters or the plot. It only brushed the surface, when I really wanted it to go deeper. Like, how did the AI robots come to be? Why are they able to be self-governing, and I assume be counted as full citizens? [If they have the option to either look more robotic or to look more human, why do so many of them choose to still look robotic?]* Is there a class system among AI because it seemed like might be? If the AI have a class system within themselves, do the humans ALSO still have a class system? How do AI and human class systems intersect? I know these are all considered superfluous questions, but if you raise the point then you can't expect me to ignore it! Also, I would like to point out, I did not realize Fawn is an AI with a "human chassis" until it was explicitly stated in the story. Which affects how I viewed Fawn and Indira's first interaction. I was confused why Indira was being so rude to her for no reason, and why Fawn was being so bratty. I also feel like they didn't go too deeper into the characters and their motivations. Unless I am very dumb and didn't understand it? There are several scenes of Indira...hallucinating? Is she actually hallucinating or is it an artist's representation of chronic pain and anxiety? *[Also, I just reread the GR blurb and noticed that it says "Fawn is one of the first human-presenting AI". Uh. I don't recall that fact being mentioned in the book, at all. That also answers my previous questions of why I didn't see any other "human presenting" AI in the book, and why Fawn is called a "spoiled rich kid" in one scene.] Which baffled me, because they showed her home, and it's fairly modest. Its major perk is that it does have some nice art and that it has some nice representation. Overall, I felt like I was skimming through the book when that's just how the plot is written. I really wanted to like it more, but I just can't. Pity, since I love the artists and authors' other works!