I Used AI to Review George Orwell’s 1984

This is what happened

Image by James Garside using DALL.E

‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by George Orwell is the definitive dystopian science-fiction novel par excellence. It’s a shot across the bows about totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and the curtailing of freedom of speech.

I decided to use Artificial Intelligence to write a review. As you do. At first blush you might think it makes more sense to do that with something more obvious like the work of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, or Philip K Dick. But I think it’s the perfect book given its focus on the meaning of language and truth in a world that respects neither.

Microsoft president Brad Smith, speaking to BBC’s Panorama in 2021, said that an Orwellian future “could come to pass in 2024” if advances in Artifical Intelligence are left unchecked:

“I’m constantly reminded of George Orwell’s lessons in his book 1984. You know the fundamental story…was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time. …