REVIEW: “A Game of Go” by P.A. Cornell

Review of P.A. Cornell, “A Game of Go,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 12-43 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The main character in this story is Ava, the SmartHome who has been raising Christopher since his mothers both disappeared. As a sentient AI character, Ava has been programmed to abide by certain rules; while with the rapid growth of gen-AI, LLM-driven models we tend to think that rules are important for keeping AIs from doing the wrong thing, the crux of this story is how Ava’s constraints prevent her from doing the right thing, and how she fights back against this. It was a curiously optimistic view of AI agents.