Cloudthinker: A science fiction thriller
About this ebook
Numbers don’t lie. But people do.
Seasoned tech journalist Parham Nasiri is convinced there’s something sinister behind tech giant Magenta’s new product, Cloudthinker. The ambitious AI service sent shockwaves through an already fragile economy, decimating the workforce and tightening Magenta’s stranglehold on society.
After his employers subscribe to the service and put him out of a job, Parham becomes determined to uncover the truth. His digging leads him to Boogie Wu – an enigmatic math genius who died in a corporate jet accident – and he’s quickly ensnared in a shadowy web of mystery and deception.
Tangled up with a corporate whistle-blower, a human-like autonomous hacker, AI-powered robots, and the increasingly blurry line separating humans from software, Parham fights to expose the secrets behind Cloudthinker and its elusive creators.
And when he realizes the world-shaking consequences of Magenta’s real intentions, he’ll be forced to make impossible choices to stop the world from tipping into crisis...
Set in a future so near you can touch it, Cloudthinker is a profound and propulsive new thriller that confronts big tech, memory and consciousness, and what it means to be human.
Selected Reader Reviews:
✭✭✭✭✭ "If ChatGPT had a villain origin story, this would be it" - Deborah N.
✭✭✭✭✭ "Crackling near-term, hard-SF dawn-of-AGI novel. More ideas per page than any book I've read in ages... Rather than worrying about whether AI understands in a way that would satisfy a philosopher, he asks whether they feel in a way that would terrify an ethicist." - Harry S.
✭✭✭✭✭ "WOW. I always hope but never expect a book to be this good! How much did I ENJOY it?... and on a scale of 1-10 this was 17-19 or something!" - Randy F.
✭✭✭✭✭ "This book will take you down the winding trail of "what ifs" that are fast becoming a reality for all of us. Thrilling and thought provoking. I forgot this was a work of fiction several times." - Joe S.
✭✭✭✭✭ "In many ways, Cloudthinker feels like a movie waiting for a screenplay." - Jules K
✭✭✭✭✭ "The timeliness of the AI progression nailed it, I think - everything from Wuhan to the current state of language models felt like the changes were worryingly plausible" - Sean R.
✭✭✭✭✭ "You can read it as a philosophical and ethical journey into some of the most interesting topics emerging in today's society." - JT.
✭✭✭✭✭ "I picked it up and read it in a single sitting. And then went back and read it again a few days later. A gripping and engaging story both times!" - Jordan D-M.
✭✭✭✭✭ "This distinctly creative, imaginative, and profound debut novel will delight fans of sci-fi, thrillers/suspense stories, technothrillers, and cyberpunk". - Terri Stepek for Reader Views
✭✭✭✭✭ "Hits the zeitgeist in a big way." - Jennifer Hill for Reedsy Discovery
About the author
Andrew McGlinchey has played in Big Tech's high-stakes, fast-moving game for almost three decades, including at companies such as Indeed, Microsoft, and Google, where he worked at the frontier of worldwide markets and AI-driven products.
Andrew holds a degree in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science from the University of Toronto.
He's an immigrant to Singapore, where he lives with his wife and an abundance of tropical plants. His debut novel, Cloudthinker, showcases his excitement for exploring provocative ideas that juxtapose human-centered narrative with cutting-edge technology.
To learn more about Andrew and his work, visit his website at www.cloudthinker.xyz.