Will AI ever truly replicate a human?

David Culley • 5 June 2025

Book review: "Machines Like Me" by Ian McEwan

In my latest AI book review, I explore ‘Machines Like Me’ by Ian McEwan – a novel that challenges how we think about machines, emotions and humanity itself.

I believe that, as a society, we’re not engaging robustly enough with the ethical issues that AI is creating.  For that reason, I think novels like this are a powerful way to get people to engage with these issues, and I often refer to them in my AI training courses.

This book is a companion piece to ‘Co-Intelligence’ by Ethan Mollick, which I reviewed last time.  Where Mollick considers our relationship with AI in the workplace, McEwan considers the wider social relationship we have with this emerging technology.

The video gives a bit more detail about this fascinating novel.  Do you think AI will ever be indistinguishable from humans and, if so, whether that’s a good thing…?

20 May 2025
Book review: 'Co-Intelligence' by Ethan Mollick
by David Culley 6 May 2025
Book review: 'Supremacy' by Parmy Olson
by David Culley 22 April 2025
Book review: 'The Coming Wave' by Mustafa Suleyman
by David Culley 8 April 2025
Book review: 'Klara and the Sun' by Kazuo Ishiguro
by David Culley 1 April 2025
Book review: 'Living with AI' by Stuart Russell
by David Culley 1 April 2025
Book review: 'Careless People' by Sarah Wynn-Williams
by David Culley 18 March 2025
Book review: 'Life 3.0' by Max Tegmark
by David Culley 18 March 2025
Book review: 'Hello World' by Dr Hannah Fry
by David Culley 12 February 2025
· Are you concerned about the impact of AI on your organisation or job role? · Are you keen to explore the opportunities and threats that AI presents? · Or are you simply looking for someone to demystify the world of AI for you? I’ve picked some of my favourite AI research – the content which informs my courses and raises interesting and important questions about AI – and I’ll be summarising them in a series of short, practical book reviews. Whatever aspect of AI you’re interested in, you will find something valuable here. Stay tuned for my reviews over the coming weeks! Follow me on LinkedIn for all my latest posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dprculley/
by David Culley 10 April 2020
Accountancy institutes are entreating members to close their skills gaps so that they can translate threats associated with technology into opportunities.
More posts