A CRITICAL STUDY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS A LITERARY CHARACTER: EXPLORING THE THEMES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, AGENCY AND MORAL AMBIGUITY IN SHORT STORY “TRUE LOVE” BY ISAAC ASIMOV

Abstract

In the twenty first century, the influence of Artificial intelligence extends far beyond the domain of the technology and affects the diverse fields such as Medicine, Business, Education, Engineering and Humanities. In the humanities, particularly in literature, it has captured the attention of writers. Many science fiction writers have started to portray Artificial intelligence (AI) as a literary character rather than merely a machine into their literary works. This study critically explores the portrayal of Artificial intelligence (AI) as a literary character in short story “True Love “by Isaac Asimov with focus on the themes of consciousness, agency and moral ambiguity. This research challenges the traditional human centered definition of a literary character by exploring how non-human entities can also function as a complex literary character, with the support of posthumanist theory and AI ethics framework. A qualitative research method was adopted, in which thematic analysis was used to examine the original text of the short story, as the primary source of the data.  The findings revealed that the AI character Joe is portrayed as a complex literary character exhibiting the consciousness, agency and moral ambiguity. this coexistence of consciousness, agency and moral ambiguity in Joe challenges the traditional human centered definition of a literary character which limits the character hood to human beings. Overall, this study makes a contribution to both literary and AI studies.