'My anxiety inspired me to write a prize winning novel on AI and climate change'

Climate change is on every UK resident’s minds. It is such a pressing issue, in fact, that last year a new book prize, The Climate Fiction Prize, staked its place in the literary landscape by celebrating the most inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis.

Temperatures soared to record-breaking highs last week, as Brits sweated it out through travel chaos and sleepless nights. Wildfires burned through the Peak District and urban pavements heated up to 57 degrees. And more is to come, as weather predictions state that another heatwave is on the horizon.

The night before the Climate Fiction Prize ceremony the mercury hit 35 degrees in London. So when the moment to crown the winner arrived on May 27, it felt all the more urgent.

American author Helen Phillips was crowned the winner for her novel Hum, which explores a world where fresh air is a luxury and artificial intelligence has grown into all-seeing humanoid robots. Phillips spoke to The Mirror’s resident book critic Dr. Aimée Walsh about artificial intelligence, the global climate emergency, and feeling the anxiety of both.

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Set in a hot and gritty city populated by super-intelligent robots called ‘Hums’, the main character May seeks refuge from her family’s addiction to their devices, so she splurges on a weekend at the Botanical Garden. Fresh air and greenery flourish in the garden - but her decision to seek a life away from technology comes with consequences for the family.

Brooklyn-based Phillips told The Mirror: “When I was setting out to write Hum, I was inspired by my anxiety. One of the things I was anxious about was climate change.” The genesis of the book came from a need to understand her anxiety.

She said: “With anxiety when it's this ambient thing that you don't understand it's harder.” Exploring and testing whether her fears were based in reality, she sought to answer: “What are some real predictions about what's going to happen with the climate? What are the people who study this thinking: what will happen with artificial intelligence?”

In researching the book, she spoke to her Brooklyn College colleague, Dr. Kenneth Gould, a sociologist who studies climate change. Phillips said that during that conversation Dr. Gould made a remark that stuck with her: “We are all villains. The system only gives us villainous options.”

Phillips admits that the echoes with the Karl Marx quote are unintentional: "There is no ethical consumption under capitalism." But the sentiment is there, as it is difficult to live a completely ethical life, untangled from AI and technology that increases climate change. We, after all, live in a world where chatbots and AI generated images that are now commonplace on social media and in workplaces alike.

The writer noted that artificial intelligence and the climate emergency are intertwined. She said: “In the US, they're building vast data systems to support the AI infrastructure but they use a lot of natural resources.”

Though, she does not advocate for a world without AI completely - rather an understanding of the consequences of using this technology. She said: “AI that's suddenly popping up on your computer or phone, it's not for free. There is a cost that comes with that and the more that people can be aware of that, the better.

"After I had written the book, air quality was on my mind. We had a couple of days in New York City where there were fires burning in Canada… These forests were burning elsewhere. We are all in this vast connected system that can affect our daily lives.”

She admitted: “I'm not going to resolve anything about the climate crisis with a single novel. Obviously, that's impossible.” But she hopes that Hum will open questions in readers' minds about whether technology is costing society the world.

“We can nurture connection in our lives, connection to our families, to our friends, to the people we work with,” she explained. “From that connection grows the power to try to change things.”

Hum by Helen Phillips is out now.

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