Book review: Poignant tale centred on the perils of AI

In Michael Connelly’s latest, Mickey Haller is representing the mother of a teenage girl murdered by her ex-boyfriend who claims he was encouraged to do so by a chatbot

Michael Connelly does something unusualin 'The Proving Ground', he links his different series together, sometimes by cameo visits — in this case Harry Bosch, and past characters from previous Lincoln Lawyer books appear. File picture: Katherine K Westerman/ PA

• The Proving Ground 
• Michael Connelly 
• Orion, €16.99 

The plot of this novel couldn’t be more topical. 

Since early November, OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits in California, claiming that ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions and allege wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, and negligence. 

The lawsuits claim that OpenAI knowingly released Chat GPT40 prematurely, despite internal warnings that it was dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative.

In Connelly’s latest, Mickey Haller, known as The Lincoln Lawyer, has turned from criminal work and is taking a civil lawsuit representing the mother of a teenage girl murdered by her ex-boyfriend. 

The lawsuit claims he was encouraged to do so by a chatbot called Clair, developed by cutting-edge tech company Tidalwaiv.

A similar case, which is acknowledged by Connelly as his inspiration, Megan Garcia vs CharacterAI, is currently in the US courts, although that real case deals with a 14-year-old boy’s suicide rather than a murder.

The narrative starts slowly, but the tension gradually builds up and the court setting is used to cleverly explore timely issues around AI and legal ethics. 

What is also remarkable is how Connelly clearly explains concepts like machine learning, large language models, and AI training to a general audience.

He also gives us a timely warning of some of the dangers of AI, reminding us that it is programmed by humans whose negative stereotypes and biases may result in dangerous elements being introduced.

If “garbage” goes into the development of a program, “garbage” may very well come out of it.

Here he describes how Clair, Tidalwaiv’s AI companion, works: “You just sign in, and on your screen is what appears to be a real live person responding to you. Talking to you. Even texting you on your cell phone, if you want.

“You can add your fantasy on top of that fantasy. Let’s say you want your AI companion to be based on the popular real-life female wrestler known as Wren the Wrestler.

“Then the Clair app will search within the parameters of the data banks it’s been trained on for any and all applicable information about the real human being known as Wren the Wrestler and incorporate what it learns into an iteration of Wren that’s visually a pretty close facsimile of the real person.”

Aaron Colton, the young killer, had named the chatbot Wren, and when he complained about Rebecca breaking up with him, the response was: 

“She’s not good enough for you. Get rid of her. Be my hero. You will always have me.”

Chilling. A timely warning for all of us. What Haller argues in court is that the chatbot is dangerous for the young and impressionable — the product was marketed for 13-year-olds.

The author does something unusual, he links his different series together, sometimes by cameo visits — in this case Harry Bosch, and past characters from previous Lincoln Lawyer books appear.

One ex-wife is still his assistant, while Maggie, his first ex-wife and the mother of his daughter, is the district attorney prosecuting the teenage killer. 

Their relationship is rekindled when she moves in with him while grieving for the loss of her home from the Eaton fire in Altadena, which really happened last January.

Fans will recognise journalist Jack McEvoy from three previous novels. McEvoy is planning to write a book about the crime and subsequent trial.

When Tidalwaiv’s defence team, aware of Haller’s reputation for winning, tries to throw Mickey off by presenting a massive amount of discovery, he enlists the journalist’s help — which proves fruitful.

While the reappearances of characters from Connelly’s prior 49 novels will be appreciated by his regular readers, this novel can be read as a standalone.