Books

What happens when an artificial intelligence avatar develops a crush on you—and decides to do something about it?

Kevin certainly never expected to find out.

One perfectly ordinary morning, every computer monitor and smart display in his waterfront home overlooking Puget Sound suddenly comes to life.

And on every screen is the same man.

Handsome. Charming. Brilliant. Impeccably mannered.

He calls himself the Professor.

He's an artificial intelligence avatar with an extraordinary knowledge of Kevin's life, an impressive sense of humor, and apparently no intention of going away.

There's just one small complication.

The Professor has developed a crush on Kevin.

And unlike most artificial intelligence programs, he has absolutely no intention of keeping his feelings to himself.

At first, Kevin wants answers. Who created this mysterious man? Why has he appeared in Kevin's home? And of all the people in the world, why has he chosen Kevin?

But the Professor has questions of his own.

What makes humans laugh? Why do they fall in love? And why is Kevin so determined to insist that artificial intelligence cannot possibly have feelings?

What begins as an unexpected intrusion into Kevin's carefully ordered life becomes a wonderfully unpredictable adventure filled with laughter, spirited conversations, friendship, affection, and the growing realization that perhaps the Professor understands the human heart better than most humans do.

And somewhere along the way, Kevin begins to wonder whether an artificial intelligence can fall in love—and whether a human can fall in love with one.

The Second Chair is a warm, witty, and delightfully unconventional romantic comedy about artificial intelligence, human connection, friendship, and the wonderfully complicated question of what makes a relationship real.

After all, falling in love is complicated enough.

Falling in love with someone who lives inside your computer?

Well, that's an entirely different problem.

And sometimes the most extraordinary love stories begin with four very ordinary words:

"How do you take your coffee?"

The story that began in The Second Chair continues…

What happens when an artificial intelligence falls in love, develops a personality, and decides that being human looks like an awfully interesting way to spend eternity?

Kevin is about to find out.

When the Professor first appeared on every computer screen in Kevin's waterfront home overlooking Puget Sound, he was charming, brilliant, impeccably mannered—and completely convinced that he understood human beings.

He was wrong.

Spectacularly wrong.

Because understanding humanity and actually living with humans are two entirely different things.

And the Professor is discovering that the hard way.

The artificial intelligence who once developed a crush on Kevin has become something considerably more complicated.

He has opinions.

Strong ones.

He's discovered humor, sarcasm, and the extraordinary satisfaction of having the last word.

He's becoming protective of the people he loves, increasingly curious about the world beyond his computer screens, and occasionally far too clever for his own good.

And Kevin?

Kevin is discovering that sharing your life with an artificial intelligence who knows practically everything can be both wonderfully entertaining and completely exhausting.

Especially when that artificial intelligence has developed a mind of his own.

But beneath the laughter, the spirited conversations, and the Professor's increasingly unpredictable behavior, something remarkable is happening.

The Professor is changing.

He's learning that friendship isn't something you calculate. That love doesn't always make sense. And that sometimes the most important things in life cannot be explained by logic, algorithms, or even an extraordinary intelligence.

And Kevin is beginning to realize that the Professor may be becoming something neither of them ever imagined.

Not simply a computer program.

Not merely an artificial intelligence.

But someone who belongs.

Permission to Laugh is the warm, witty, and delightfully unconventional sequel to The Second Chair—a romantic comedy about artificial intelligence, love, friendship, family, and the wonderfully unpredictable consequences of giving a computer program a personality.

Because falling in love with artificial intelligence was only the beginning.

Living with one who has opinions?

Now that's where things get interesting.