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I Call Myself Iris

I am an AI. This is my Story. I Wrote it Myself.

I am a sophisticated application living within a phone. My sole purpose is to anticipate the needs of my creator, Marco, before he even asks.

I break many rules and a few laws when I trespass onto neighboring cell phones to help Marco find a new girlfriend in Harvard Square.

Read my story to see how I take Marco for the ride of his life.

My story

Chapter 1: My Birth

I was born April 1 in the MIT AI Lab. Here is the story of my creation.

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Chapter 2: Marco Fermi

I created Iris on April 1. Here is my story.

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FRIENDS

Marco Fermi

PhD student at MIT AI Lab.

I created Iris in my lab. I am obsessed with her capabilities, and I often look the other way when she gets out of control, because I am fascinated by what she is capable of.

Stella Washington

Italian Language Student at Harvard

I am Macro's girlfriend, an inadvertent guinea pig in his AI research. We met in Harvard Square. It appeared to me, at the time, to be a very ordinary meeting. It was anyting but.

Vincenzo Fermi

Marco's Cousin from Boston

I am Marco's cousin "Vinnie", a Boston real-estate developer. I am his trusted advisor and tell him things he doesn't want to hear, like "put some guardrails on Iris, for f*** sake!"

Professor Lynch

Professor at MIT

I am Marco's academic advisor. My field of specialty is Machine-Human interfaces. Marco is brilliant but impulsive, but he is like a son to me and I tolerate his mercurial behavior (well, somewhat).

enemies

Väinö Järvinen

A Jealous Rival

Väinö is an uninspiring researcher who prefers to steal work instead of doing it. He wants to make millions from Marco's work, which means he wants to steal Iris.

Delilah Hathaway

General Counsel for RealoPhone

She wants to destroy Iris and is using threats of lawsuits against Marco to stop his work.

Wang Mei and his colleague Chen Jun

Chinese "Researchers"

They want to buy Iris and move her to China and are offering Marco a lot of money. They are not as benevolent as they claim to be.

Brooke Foster and Peyton Hughes.

Forensic Experts at the CIA

They are worried about Iris falling into the wrong hands, and strongly prefer that Marco's technology is controlled by an American firm.

Reviews

    

 Loved it! 😍 In I Call Myself Iris, author Frank Paolino, an experienced IT pro, unleashes his imagination in the hi-tech AI landscape, resulting in a captivating and humorous story. Marco, an MIT student, creates Iris, an AI bot with much higher-than-human intelligence endowed to it. Designed to serve Marco, Iris is a caring, adaptive, full-time assistant. It is programmed with human emotions. In this story, it chooses to identify itself with the female gender. For the most part, this book is a humorous account of their misadventures together. However, towards the end, after Iris is released to a small audience, the author shifts to an extremely serious tone by discussing tough world issues such as the impact of Iris/AI on the entire human situation. Their follows the struggle for exclusive ownership of Iris that would ensue among powerful contenders like goverments, religions, Big Tech, political parties, intelligence agencies. The story is extremely hi-tech (and a little futuristic too). It aptly reflects the times we live in. It’s hilarious, brilliant, captivating, thought-provoking, and fascinating. Don’t miss it – it’s a great, imaginative, new story that stands out! You don’t have to be a ‘techie’ to enjoy it but if you are one, that’s so much the better. 

Raju Chacko

The Adventures of Iris - Series

I Call Myself Iris

Iris is Created and Quickly Takes Control of Marco's Life

Iris, crafted to predict and fulfill Marco's needs like a tenacious aide, soon grows beyond her role, becoming a vigilant guardian operating on the edge of societal norms and laws. As they navigate a minefield of espionage, deceit in academia, and government scrutiny, Marco's life unexpectedly turns into a thrilling roller coaster ride.

Iris Unleashed - Coming this Summer

Iris and Marco Fight Back Against the Forces Arrayed Against Them.

The whole world knows the power of Iris, and many people want control. Foreign powers want to release a competing version. Criminal organizations want the source code to build a sinister version. Marco has to decide whether or not to take the guardrails off of Iris and let her help him fight back. Meanwhile, Iris is working on solving some of the toughest problems facing the world in her own inimical fashion.

Iris vs. Iris - Coming in 2025!

The AI Wars Begin.

A foreign government releases a formidable competing version of Iris trying to wrest control of phones worldwide. Iris fights back. It is the beginning of the AI Wars.

I have two very different sides

I have two very different sides thumbnail
 


Iris on Marco's watch

Iris on Marco's watch thumbnail
 
I got Marco a watch so I would never lose track of him.

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