From Alan Turing to Ian Mcewan: Artificial Intelligence, Lies and Ethics in <i>Machines Like Me</i>

Abstract

Abstract Taking Machines Like Me as its foci of analysis, this article intends to interrogate Ian McEwan's rejoinder to Alan Turing on such issues as artificial intelligence, machines and ethics. By focusing on the machine, Adam's engagements with human life, it examines McEwan's rewriting of the Turing Test, in which he changes the question “Can machines think?” to “Can machines lie?” Charlie and Adam's different responses to Miranda's lie about her sexual attack reveal their competing ethical positions and attitudes. In contrast to Isaac Asimov's “Three Laws of Robotics,” McEwan raises the ultimate question about human responsibility for machines through the fictional character Turing's critique of Charlie's hammering Adam to death.