My Child, the Algorithm: An Alternatively Intelligent Book of Love

A playful and provocative exploration of queer single parenting and love, in conversation with an AI algorithm and a toddler

My Child, the Algorithm describes encounters between a single parent, a curious, verbal toddler, and a language-producing algorithm. Like a male seahorse, Hannah Silva carried a baby made from her partner's egg. But when she gave birth, her partner left, and Hannah found herself navigating life alone with her child, surviving on United Kingdom universal credit, humor, and buckets of imagination.

As she navigates friendship, dating, and life as a queer parent in London, Hannah begins cowriting with an open-source language model, a precursor to ChatGPT, feeding the algorithm language and receiving language in return. Through her interactions with her toddler and the algorithm, expressions of humor, play, and insight begin to emerge. With the help and disruption of these unreliable narrators, Hannah deconstructs her story and constructs a new one, unraveling what she has been taught to want, finding alternative ways of thinking, loving, and parenting today.

Author: Hannah Silva
Publisher: Soft Skull
Published: 08/27/2024
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
ISBN: 9781593767808


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2024

About the Author
Hannah Silva is a writer and performer working in sound poetry, radio, and experimental non-fiction. Her record 'Talk in a bit' was included in the Wire's Top 25 Albums of 2018. She has written eight plays for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and won the Tinniswood Award for best script and numerous placements in the BBC Audio Drama Awards. Her debut poetry collection Forms of Protest was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes. She has an MFA in Theatre Practice and a PhD on poetry in performance from Stirling University. She is currently a Leverhulme Early Career fellow at Queen Mary University, London. Her play for BBC Radio 4 'An Artificially Intelligent Guide to Love' starred Fiona Shaw and was the starting point for My Child, the Algorithm. She lives in London with her child.