The technology ‘featured’ in each short story in Autonomous Decisions

People’s attention span is limited, as is their time, and I’ve received several requests about revealing which computing (including AI) or IT is covered in which short story included in Autonomous Decisions: computing quandaries in short fiction so they can take their pick or at least prioritise accordingly. Here it goes:

Chapter 1: Melokuhle – Good Things. Technology: Robots as artificial moral agents, culturally-aware robots. (more background information in a blogpost)

Chapter 2: Radiating Confidence. Technology: Hardware and software of medical devices in hospitals.

Chapter 3: A Bargain Lost? Technology: Home assistants and agent communications.

Chapter 4: The Switch. Technology: Data-driven classifiers in software embedded in cars, for context-aware optimisations.

Chapter 5: The Adjudication of the Algo Aunt. Technology: Software – including data collection and mining, and rules – for automated worker management. (more background information in a blogpost)

Chapter 6: The Inclusive Virtual Line-up. Technology: Facial recognition software, IT laws.

Chapter 7: Vying for the Last Laugh. Technology: LLM-writing detection software.

Chapter 8: The Lifespan of an Implant. Technology: Retinal implants, Bluetooth hacking.

Chapter 9: Overdue Credit. Technology: Social credit apps.

Chapter 10: Autonomous Decisions. Technology: drones, Autonomous Weapons Systems/killer robots.

I have a similar list for the computer ethics concepts that are woven into each story, but no-one has asked for that, so I’ll leave that be. (They’re listed in the appendix of the book as well.)

The book is available as eBook and paperback from the publisher (Krest), on Amazon Kindle, and overseas paperback through print-on-demand from at least Amazon. I’m aware of the pushback against Amazon, and let me reassure you that it is very well possible to buy the eBook directly from the publisher wherever you are in the world. The softcover hardcopy can be shipped from South Africa, too, but it will take more time than Amazon’s print-on-demand option because the latter is printed nearer to where you live.

Last, but not least, I have my first goodies to distribute: you can now adorn you device with an “Autonomous Decisions” sticker 🙂

m keet August 14, 2025

AI ethics / autonomous decisions / goodies /

Background readings to ‘Adjudication of the Algo Aunt’

(source: https://xkcd.com/937/)

The appendix of Autonomous Decisions links to basic information about the underlying issues that the stories were inspired by and lists a few discussion questions, as a starting point for looking into the non-fiction side of it all. For the “Adjudication of the Algo Aunt” short story, a key concept is algorithmic domination through automated management of employees and gig workers, and a policy vacuum due to lack of regulation whether it is acceptable to do so.

Recently, I scratched the surface about algorithmic domination some more in a blog post, and linked it specifically to the aspect of algorithmic management through ratings, and especially those algorithms that take ratings from untrained users at that. Like any Uber rider is forced to do before being allowed to order a new ride, or consumers can do of other services provided by, e.g., bank employees and the SARS agent who calls back or can provide product ratings on Goodreads, Amazon, Takealot etc. And they may rate you, too.

Read the blog post at https://keet.wordpress.com/2025/05/25/algorithmic-domination-through-ratings-in-apps-and-websites/

m keet July 20, 2025

AI ethics / autonomous decisions /