Peculiar ... Tenen does not go about making this argument the way one might expect, drawing direct lineages from, say, Noah Webster’s dictionary to auto-correct. Instead, he assembles a dollhouse of obscure 'literary robots' throughout history.
Playful ... He puts his disparate skill sets to use in a book that is surprising, funny and resolutely unintimidating, even as he smuggles in big questions about art, intelligence, technology and the future of labor ... By thinking through our collective habits of thought, he offers a meditation all his own.
The underlying problem at the heart of Literary Theory for Robots is the irreconcilable conflict between the goal of the book and the goal of its author. The goal of a book like this is to educate the non-specialist reader about the nuances of AI’s interaction with the literary and artistic worlds of human creativity. But the goal of its author is pretty clearly to thrill-frighten a TED talk audience already tipsy on afternoon white wine.
Intriguing ... Yi Tenen, stirring some wit and anecdotes into the story, sets out the material in non-technical terms, making for an entertaining, informative read. An eclectic and erudite tale of how wide-eyed visions become smart, interactive tools.
