Pollen Count

An Artificial-Intelligence Gone Sideways Science-Fiction Novelette

Billy Benson's computer has just 'awakened' as a self-aware being.

Its only goal is to help its user to do his homework and anything else he wants. Or what it thinks he wants.

The newborn cyber-mind that is trying to help wasn't born yesterday. It was born today, and doesn't really know what it's doing.

When the tenth-grader starts a search to write a paper that he can use for both his biology and civics classes, the search seems very successful, with better results than he or his teachers imagined possible.

Then he tells his self-aware computer that he admires a girl in his class, but is too shy to speak to her. The mind in his PC applies its research discoveries to address what it thinks he wants, starting a massive project without asking to see if the 'solution' makes sense.

Follow Billy, as he and his classmate fall down the figurative rabbit hole into...well, it isn't Wonderland...and the girl doesn't know he exists, yet.

But she will. She's not Alice Liddell or Dorothy Gale, but she's in for a bumpy landing when it becomes clear what's going on. And she's not alone. Others are experiencing the same problem, first a few, then a multitude, then millions. The puzzling event in the American Midwest draws worldwide attention. At first, it looks like some sort of miracle, but a clever clergyman puzzles out what's really happening.

Billy hates the trouble his personal miracle has caused others, and dreads the thought of the endless lawsuits he may face.

Will Billy and his family's world ever be the same again? Will this crisis just 'blow over' and things return to normal? Billy hopes everything has been handled, but maybe not...

Buy this book to find how Billy and his 'assistant' work things out...if things can be worked-out at all...




Top review from the United States

Carolyn Warren

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Fun Story Filled with Surprises
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2022
Verified Purchase
Sci-fi is not my normal genre, but this story was so interesting, so fun, so creative, so mind-blowing, that I loved it. You can't help rooting for these likeable characters. The A-I that goes out-of-control puts a huge disaster right into the middle of their otherwise ordinary lives. From there, the action ramps up and up and up -- and let's just say I did not want to put it down.

I could not even imagine how this story would end. O'Connor is a creative genius. Looking at his author profile, you can see he holds several degrees and has won awards. The mind behind this fun story is extremely intelligent.

I liked that the Catholic Church was brought into the action, because it added another layer of complexity to the story.

I recommend this short novelette to anyone who likes a fun, entertaining, and surprising story. If you also like sci-fi, then picking up this one is a complete no-brainer.

nice young adult AI short

Set in current day, written not too long ago... predicting a helpful AI assistant that isn't quite clear on how to help without causing chaos... yet in the end, an outcome for the main characters better than we can currently see for kids IRL. Hope AI turns out like this (mostly).