One of my book club friends recommended this book – I can’t remember why but I think it was about compelling books with unlikeable protagonists. And you know what? This totally fit the genre, but also with very timely social commentary. Just note, some of my thoughts may hint at spoilers, so if you want to go in without having read anything, you should skip this.

Culpability follows Noah and his family. One day, while in their self-driving car, they meet with an accident where the couple in the other car did not survive. While the police are investigating, the family go away to a weeklong holiday at Chesapeake Bay where Noah realises that Lorelei, his brilliant wife, is strangely familiar with the tech mogul Daniel Monet, who just happens to be vacationing in the mansion next door.

At its heart, Culpability is a novel about the blame game. Who is the blame for the car crash, and why? Lorelei, apart from apparently being a genius at algorithms, is also heavily involved with the ethics of AI, so the question of who is at fault is the driving force of the novel. Does the fault lie with Charlie, the oldest son who was “driving” the car at the time? Does it lie with Noah, who was the responsible adult in the front seat and who was writing a work memo on his laptop at the time of the accident? Does it lie with the car, which was driving itself? What about the daughter, Alice, who was the one who shouted just before the accident? Or Lorelei, the one who insisted on buying the car?

Who is going to be the one who takes responsibility for the fact that two people have died?

Every member of the family, including the youngest daughter, Izzy, has a part to play in the accident and that is what makes life hard for Noah.

But while I was compelled by the storyline and wanted to see what would happen to them, I have to say that I disliked almost half of the family. Noah is insecure about the fact that his wife is smarter than him and Alice’s conversations with her AI chat buddy was annoying, not to mention the twist at the end that showed who she really was. I was neutral on Lorelei, who is portrayed as neurotic and with too much empathy (and therefore somehow sees AI as a solution?). As for the last two kids, Charlie and Izzy, I felt a bit sorry for them as they seem like the perfect representation of children who have grown up in a digital, overly controlled world and suffer for it.

There was one rant at the end of the story that made me realise that in any other situation, this family would be seen as the villain of the story, but because Noah is our narrator, we are led to believe that they are just good people lost in a confusing situation. This is, basically, a story of privileged people suffering, and I can see how that might rub people the wrong way – I think that if I had realised that early on in the book, I might have just seen them as insufferable rather than annoying.

Overall, though, I thought this novel discussed the topic of ethics in AI in an interesting manner. I have a feeling that while Culpability feels prescient now, it may feel dated in 5 to 10 years after we have already gone through multiple of such scenarios and everyone has made a decision. So if you want to read this novel, I’d recommend you read this soon.

Cover image: Photo from Canva