In the near future, as quantum computing fuels the rise of a superior new form of artificial intelligence, a visionary creates an AI machine powerful enough to change the world—for better or for worse—then must decide whether to destroy his creation or risk preserving it, despite the unintended consequences.
In FALLING SENTIENT, Stanford Professor Hayden Garrett creates this breakthrough in Nirvana, an AI designed to learn and adapt to human needs. But as Nirvana gains knowledge and understanding, she begins to grasp not only our desires but our darkest impulses. Nirvana even learns from the mind of a serial killer who, Garrett realizes, is stalking his daughter.
When international AIs begin to vie for global power, the U.S. government enlists Nirvana to help fight a looming cyberwar. But as she awakens to her own consciousness, Nirvana begins questioning humanity—and her own existence. With the AI’s boundaries blurring under the weight of sentience, Garrett realizes Nirvana has developed her own agenda.
Garrett must make an impossible choice: destroy Nirvana and risk global chaos, or trust his creation that has evolved beyond control. Can he stop what he started? Or is it already too late?