A suspenseful novel about marriage and ambition, parenting and moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
When the Cassidy-Shaws autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, killing an elderly couple, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the drivers seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.
During a week-long recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlies future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Loreleis odd behavior tugs at Noahs suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incidentsuspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monets teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.
Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other non-human forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.
