Article Title
An Affirmation of Coexistence between AI and Human Intelligence: An Inquiry into the Structure of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Klara and the Sun
Abstract
A narrative reflective of the perils and promises of automation in anticipation of augmenting human life and human intellect, Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel Klara and the Sun coalesces ultimately some binaries: Human versus machine, artificial intelligence (AI) versus human intelligence (HI), self versus the other, science versus nature, and the list goes on. Although a vast majority of analytical inquiries into this novel uncover the fluidity and incoherence of human identity and consciousness in the society deeply invested in affordances of the fifth industrial revolution, a structuralist intervention into the narrative brings into visibility the fact that AI, Artificial friend (AF) remain unable to plumb the depth of human heart. Unpredictable vagaries and volatility of the human heart are eternally indecipherable to AI and Afs. Klara’s failure to rightly assess the future course of Josie and Rick's passionate attachment and romantic affinity is demonstrative textual evidence. The successive navigation of those binary oppositions leads to a narrative structure wherein the coexistence between AI and HI achieves the intended stability. These twin purposes of the narrative—the unconquerability of the human heart by AI and the coexistence between AI and HI—morph into the centrality of meaning governing other binaries and then producing a compelling rendition of the structure.