NARRATING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: ETHICAL AUTHORITY, TRANSPARENCY, AND POWER IN IAN MCEWAN’S MACHINES LIKE ME
NARRATING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: ETHICAL AUTHORITY, TRANSPARENCY, AND POWER IN IAN MCEWAN’S MACHINES LIKE ME
Author(s): Teodora VoinescuSubject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Foreign languages learning, Fiction, Studies of Literature, Novel, Philology, Theory of Literature, Drama, British Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Editura Arhipelag XXI
Keywords: artificial intelligence; posthumanism; transparency; AI ethics; narrative ethics; Ian McEwan
Summary/Abstract: This article examines Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me (2019) as a literary intervention in contemporary debates on artificial intelligence, ethical governance, and the destabilization of human moral authority. Drawing on posthuman theory, Foucauldian power analytics, and AI ethics scholarship, the paper argues that McEwan constructs artificial intelligence not simply as technological innovation but as a narrative instrument exposing the instability of ethical certainty. Through the android Adam, the novel stages a confrontation between algorithmic moral consistency and human interpretive flexibility. This conflict reveals the limits of both machinic rationality and human ethical opacity. Ultimately, the article suggests that literature provides an indispensable space for examining AI as a cultural and philosophical challenge rather than a purely technical one.
Journal: Journal of Romanian Literary Studies
- Issue Year: 2026
- Issue No: 44
- Page Range: 845-847
- Page Count: 3
- Language: English
