The Year's Top Robot and AI Stories: 2nd Annual Collection

An unabridged collection spotlighting the best robot and AI stories published in 2020 by current and emerging masters of the science fiction genre, edited by Allan Kaster.

• “Callme and Mink” by Brenda Cooper — A robot that trains dogs tries to find good homes for them in a post-collapse world.
• “Go. Now. Fix.” by Timons Esaias — A “Panda Pillow,” programmed to comfort children, finds itself in the middle of an airplane disaster.
• “Your Boyfriend Experience” by James Patrick Kelly — A sexbot designer wants his boyfriend to test out his latest android.
• “Metal Like Blood in the Dark” by T. Kingfisher — Two space-faring robot siblings, living off sunlight and metal, are captured by an evil drone. This story won the Hugo Award.
• “The Beast Adjoins” by Ted Kosmatka — A woman stranded on a comet schemes to keep her son alive and beat the AIs who have nearly wiped out humanity.
• “50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know” by Ken Liu — The obituary for an AI provides a list of advice for other advanced AIs.
• “The Ambient Intelligence” by Todd McAulty — A man in power armor confronts a sixty-ton killer robot hiding out in a shipwreck in Lake Michigan.
• “Nic and Viv’s Compulsory Courtship” by Will McIntosh — An AI that controls a city sets up an unwilling couple to become “ideal partners.”
• “Father” by Ray Nayler — In an alternate 1950s, the VA sends a robot to be a surrogate father to the son of a dead soldier.
• “A Guide for Working Breeds” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad — A grumpy robot mentors a perky robot who is having problems with its role in society.
• “Rover” by A. T. Sayre — A Martian rover, unable to communicate with Earth, detects a repeating radio signal from a spaceship.
• “Come the Revolution” by Ian Tregillis — In an alternate 18th Century Holland, a robot is determined to escape her makers’ constraints.
• “Sparklybits” by Nick Wolven — The sole stay-at-home mother of a multi-mom family must come to a gut-wrenching decision about their virus-infected smart home.