My Child, the Algorithm

Book excerpt: "Hannah Silva's My Child, the Algorithm, is one of the best books I read this year. Merging the cozy familiarity of child-rearing with the mysterious tension of AI {...}, she has created a new genre of personal narrative, and a story whose grief, hope and curiosity takes on poetic, spiritual dimensions, even when exploring the most common chambers of the human heart." —Michelle Tea, author, Knocking Myself Up My Child, the Algorithm tells a story of finding joy after betrayal. 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. Hannah started playing with a precursor to ChatGPT—wondering what AI could tell us about love. To her surprise, she was moved by the results. The algorithm prompted Hannah to share her explorations of dating, sex, friendship, and life as a queer parent in London. With the help and disruption of two unreliable narrators, a toddler and an algorithm, Hannah deconstructs her story, unraveling everything she has been taught to want, and finds alternative ways of thinking, loving, and parenting today.