An interview with best-selling sci-fi novelist Robin Sloan
One of my favorite fiction writers,
New York Times best-selling author
Robin Sloan, just wrote the first novel I’ve seen that’s inspired by LLMs.
The book is called
Moonbound, and Robin originally wanted to write it with language models. He tried doing this in 2016 with a rudimentary model he built himself, and more recently with commercially available LLMs. Both times Robin found himself unsatisfied with the creative output generated by the models. AI couldn’t quite generate the fiction he was looking for—the kind that pushes the boundaries of literature.
He did, however, find himself fascinated by the inner workings of LLMs
Robin was particularly interested in how LLMs map language into math—the notion that each letter is represented by a unique series of numbers, allowing the model to understand human language in a computational way. He thinks LLMs are language personified, given its first heady dose of autonomy.
Robin’s body of work reflects his deep understanding of technology, language, and storytelling. He’s the author of the novels
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore and
Sourdough, and has also written for publications like the
New York Times, the
Atlantic, and
MIT Technology Review. Before going full-time on fiction writing, he worked at Twitter and in traditional media institutions.
In Moonbound, Robin puts LLMs into perspective as part of a broader human story. I sat down with Robin to unpack his fascination with LLMs, their nearly sentient nature, and what they reveal about language and our own selves. It was a wide-ranging discussion about technology, philosophy, ethics, and biology—and I came away more excited than ever about the possibilities that the future holds.
This is a must-watch for science-fiction enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the deep philosophical questions raised by LLMs and the way they function.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
What is AI & I?
Learn how the smartest people in the world are using AI to think, create, and relate. Each week I interview founders, filmmakers, writers, investors, and others about how they use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney in their work and in their lives. We screen-share through their historical chats and then experiment with AI live on the show. Join us to discover how AI is changing how we think about our world—and ourselves.
For more essays, interviews, and experiments at the forefront of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought?sort=newest.