A review by nobeliumreads
Pixels of You by Yuko Ota, Ananth Hirsh

reflective slow-paced

4.0

A sci-fi graphic novel set in the future where two photographers, Indira a cybernetically augmented human and Fawn a human-presenting AI, are forced to work together on an exhibit. Throughout their collaboration, they grow closer and learn about the ways the other navigates and struggles in their world.

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I did not expect the depth of this book; I went in thinking this would be a cool human/AI rivals to lovers story, but the details we’re given about the world throughout are so interesting and honestly left me thinking. 

I personally really liked the art style of this graphic novel; it appealed to me a lot and I really loved how the colours were done!

As for the story itself, I enjoyed it even though the whole photoshoot aspect didn’t feel so important amongst everything else that was happening between Indira and Fawn, but I did like their romance; slow burn and heartfelt. I personally was just super intrigued and horrified by the snippets we are given throughout the book about the issues within the AI system. The way it was conveyed, dropped between scenes of the book and with so little words yet so much behind it, had me thinking about the implications and consequences of an AI system that has unfortunately inherited our prejudices.

“Study finds bias by gender and skin type across multiple commerical AI systems: Neural networks failed to recognise some photo portraits as showing a human face at all.”

“LOL! Noora is bleeping out Bollywood song lyrics because they’re being mistaken for curse words!”

To me, it also felt so real in that way; it falls into the background as it wasn’t the focus of the story yet affects our main characters significantly because this is the world they live in. Indira’s backstory especially, the choice made in her childhood impacting her present day.
If she’d testified, would things have been different?
And Fawn as well, how her human-like appearance affects her place in the world, how she must be perceived and treated by humans and how she was treated by other AIs who aren’t human-presenting. I was honestly just so intrigued and engrossed in the setting that was created. 

I suppose my only issue is that I didn’t quite understand some of Indira’s scenes, particularly the ‘dream’ parts, but that’s probably on me. There’s a lot left unsaid, but I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel and found it a wonderfully compelling read!
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