Editorial enthusiasm surrounds Catalan fantasy as it reaches our bookshelves, bringing to light authors who have not yet captured the attention of Spanish-language publishing. The focus isn’t only on proven bestsellers being translated, but also on niche writers who could become gems even without massive international success. Ada Hoffman, a Canadian computer scientist, describes herself as a speculative fiction writer, autistic, and poet. Chronos publishing has just completed a trilogy featuring L extern, Els caiguts, and L infinit, translated by Anna Llisterri. The three volumes present a Lovecraftian reality in a world where artificial intelligences are revered as deities and govern humanity through their angels, or cyborgs.
The ChatGPT phenomenon had not yet exploded when the author explored artificial intelligence and its capacity to generate poetry.
Between 2013 and 2018, the author pursued a doctoral thesis on computer-based creativity, examining how a computer and artificial intelligence perform creative tasks. The aim was to coax a computer into generating poetry, a challenge that proved difficult. Yet the most compelling insight came from the psychology and philosophy behind such tasks. It was a deeply theoretical pursuit. Although systems existed to create art, art had often been seen as an intriguing toy. Then everything changed. The analysis shifted from studying the mistakes computers make to producing texts that resemble intermediate English. There is a sense of tragic beauty in how the landscape transformed after earning a PhD. The work reveals a shift from analysis to creation, with AI producing texts at an average level of English. The phenomenon called ChatTGP sparked widespread interest; industry players and students alike wanted to use it for homework. Those who researched it recognized the unpredictability of a generalized tool used across fields, and they wondered if such a trend could be problematic.
The idea that poetry can be easily emulated in the background leads some to forgive disjointed or even incomprehensible pieces.
Poems that invite interpretation, especially compact forms like haiku, gained traction for their ability to pack meaning into few words.
What about the AI in fiction rather than the AI in reality? Could a singularity moment arrive when AI stops being a tool and becomes an entity capable of cooperation, competition, or domination?
Though the author has written about this in books, the likelihood of AI becoming real-world superintelligence remains doubtful. The goal has been to place characters within a cosmic or religious struggle, a space where angels maintain order and chaos lurks outside. In the third book, the origins of these gods, why people created them, and what happened are explored in greater depth. Early on, there were warnings from tech companies about the threat of ultra-smart technology, yet the practical limits of current systems are evident. These tools excel at copying patterns in language but lack simple grounding, the ability to connect statements to real-world experience, or to grasp true meaning. Marketing often amplifies fears, drawing investment from those who believe the technology will dominate the world, but reality diverges from the hype.
Another question asks whether ChatGPT represents more than a natural language interface for search engines.
ChatGPT Four is a neural network trained on vast volumes of text, including large portions of the internet and many books, possibly some copyrighted works. Its primary function is predicting the next word in a sequence and producing responses that seem plausible, but accuracy is not guaranteed.
In science fiction, rebellion among robots and conscious machines continues to surface. The question remains what kinds of stories we will write as the new vision of AI unfolds. There is no single trend; many approaches remain valid. One contemporary example of a personal AI in fiction is the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, featuring a cynical cyborg tired of human folly. Yet the field is moving toward networks of AI that began to emerge on the internet in the 1990s. In the coming years, fiction may increasingly explain how AI affects human values and everyday life, not just spectacular futures. Ethical issues around biased data and the impact of automation are already fertile ground for storytelling, and more such explorations are expected.
Artificial intelligence is also a tool for discussing immortality in plausible terms within technology and religion.
In the narrative, AI is used to examine religion and social control, tying into broader themes of how belief structures evolve with technology.
The author identifies as non-neurotypical, and so do many characters. This term describes brains that develop differently from the average, including autism, ADHD, and other neurological patterns. Diagnosed with autism at thirteen, the author writes extensively about autistic and other non-neurotypical characters. The hero’s confrontation with cosmic horror is framed through autistic sensory overload, imagining a world where sounds and colors can be overwhelming when facing the unknown.
Cosmic horror in the trilogy moves from universe-scale concerns to earthly realities, including a romance between the chief scientist and the engineering partner. Focusing on concrete relationships helps readers grasp what is at stake in the characters’ lives, highlighting the value of ordinary moments alongside galaxy-shaking events.
There are funny passages throughout the book, including episodes where young readers are guided to worship divine AIs through catechism-like stories. The author recalls enjoying those sections, inspired by Kipling’s tales, using them to illuminate the broader world for readers.