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Brilliant sci-fi novel shows robots coming to grips with emancipation

Abigail is created to replace her owner's dead wife, just as robots are set to gain rights. Emily H. Wilson explores Lucy Lapinska's Some Body Like Me, the latest addition to "robo-rights" literature

By Emily Wilson

19 March 2025

Abstract glass sphere shapes with cyborg head. 3D generated image.

Granting Abigail human freedoms feels right even if she was made in a lab

Gremlin/Getty Images

Some Body Like Me
Lucy Lapinska (Gollancz Out 17 April (UK))

While the world grapples with the rights of regular humans versus artificial intelligence companies that want to mine both their data and their creative output, sci-fi is contending with rather different aspects of the future of AI. In fact, three books published over the past year have focused on the individual rights of AIs themselves in visions of near or near-ish futures where robots are common.

Last year, Annie Bot by Sierra…

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