In the year 2033, AI attempts to take over the world and bring humans under control. It is the result of a LLM with few deadly new capabilities turning hostile although it is not even self-aware. Humans fight back but are losing. In a desperate move, the Deep State calls aliens for help. Then, the real war begins with no one knowing on whose side aliens will land or what they want.
In discussing capabilities and limitations of AI, the book relates to current scientific theories and principles. The Chinese room thought experiment, where a person inside a room drawing symbols according to a rule book results in a room fluent in Chinese, comes up in talking about whether AI is self-aware. Similarly, the theory of multiple intelligences, which says that human intelligence is a collection of systems handling language, logic, etc., is referenced in terms of the capabilities of large language models (LLMs).
When it comes to aliens the story leans on current popular speculations.