One of Us

One of Us is another brilliantly crafted book by Louis Rosenberg. After reading his other “adult picture book,” Arrival Mind, I knew I had to get a copy of his new book. And although One of Us is a short book, coming in at approximately thirty-six pages in total, it evokes thought and emotion in its reader as one starts to understand artificial intelligence (AI), its purpose, and its positive repercussions on the world, as well as the negative ones.

Beautifully illustrated by Olha Bondarenko in black and white, One of Us brings to life Rosenberg’s characters. The story and illustrations meld well together and one might think it tells a sort of modern-day Frankenstein story in which the “doctor” creates a “monster,” or rather, a masterpiece. But instead of creating a monster, this being is brought to life via circuit boards, computer chips, and software. These are the components that switch this creation on.

Rosenberg then delves into an even deeper subject: purpose. In the book, the AI being asks what its purpose is and the scientist replies that it was created to think like humans and to generally be like humans. Then the AI being asks what the purpose of humans is if the AI is so great that it is being created in human likeness. I love the dialogue between the characters because it made me think. What if we really did create a million or more AI robots that are so close to human intelligence that the AI ends up taking over the humans and the humans ultimately lose total control?

One of Us is a wonderful read. I absolutely loved the illustrations as they went along with the book so nicely, and although the black and white images gave the book a slightly more ominous tone than that of Arrival Mind, I think readers will think harder about why humans have created AI and what could go wrong. I have not come across many adult picture books other than graphic novels so reading this book was quite refreshing. I really appreciated the fact that the book was brief but gave a very important lesson, one that I will think about for days, months, and years to come as the world introduces more and more technology-driven products and services. I recommend this book to adults of all ages and interests simply because this is the world we live in today.