Big Mother

In 2025, eight-year-old Sophie meets André, a slightly older and rather wild boy, who asks her if she wants to marry him. She looks at him in astonishment and doesn't reply. Five years later, the world changes overnight: after a cyberattack on all banks worldwide, the monetary system suddenly no longer exists. Within a few days, the existing public order is wiped out, and looting and murder are rampant everywhere. Is this the end of times? In the fortified town of Naarden, a new society is established, as is happening in many other places around the world. Political power is handed over to artificial intelligence there as well. Meanwhile, André has hidden with his mother in a war bunker near Gaasperplas. In this new world, the two find each other again and try to break free from the increasing terror of Big Mother, the self-learning software that is taking over the world...

Big Mother investigates whether or not it is possible to have an AI-system write a novel based on a plot provided by humans. Created in 2023 with ChatGPT 4 in Dutch, the book has now been translated into English using ChatGPT 4o. Big Mother is not just another post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, but also contains additional chapters that provide a detailed account of the process the authors used to write the book. It describes figuring out how to generate chapters, descriptions, and dialogue, but also stressed the importance of thoroughly planning the story, as the AI cannot yet be relied upon to create the entire plot. The book includes the authors' original plot outline and a chapter with corrections they made to the text generated by ChatGPT. These materials provide valuable insights into the creative process of writing with AI and the types of adjustments that may be necessary to produce a polished final product.

Big Mother is a joint publication of Kingfisher Design & Uitgeverij Vogelvrij