Galatea 2.2

Galatea 2.2 is a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1995 by the American writer Richard Powers. A contemporary retelling of the Greek myth Pygmalion, Galatea 2.2 recounts the story of an academic who teams up with a cognitive neuroscientist to write an artificial intelligence program designed to be indistinguishable from a human woman. In the original myth, the protagonist is a sculptor who falls in love with a statue he created in the likeness of a woman. Though the events are fictionalized, the narrator of Galatea 2.2 shares the same name as the author, Richard Powers.

At the beginning of the book, Powers is a writer in his mid-thirties who returns to his former school—referred to only as "U"—to serve as the university's "in-house author." He has just suffered the dissolution of a long-term relationship with a fiery woman. Because the memory of her is so painful, Powers refers to her only as "C" as a way to create some distance from her. The position at the school allows him to write, living for free for one year, but Powers finds himself suffering from a terrible bout of writer's block. Every time he tries to write, he cannot go farther than the first line. The writer's block is worsened by the fact that he is still grieving over the loss of C, and by the realization that his father is greatly disappointed in Powers's chosen career. His father had originally wanted Powers to major in physics at U; instead, his son chose to pursue a literature degree.

Powers continues in this state of depression until his passion is finally ignited again by his discovery of an experiment being conducted by the university's cognitive neuroscience department. Led by the acerbic computer scientist Philip Lentz, the experiment involves building a machine capable of analyzing literary texts in a way that is indistinguishable from a human student. Once the machine is built, Powers's job will be to teach the computer as if it were a masters-level literature student.



Meanwhile, Powers is still haunted by his memories of C. One day, he receives every letter he ever wrote to her over the ten-year period of their relationship in the mail. She had returned them to Powers as if to signify the definitive end of their relationship, a tie that had forever been severed. As the memories of his lost love bubble to the surface, Powers recalls their time together in a city referred to as "B," which is highly suggested to be Boston, Massachusetts. Before Powers became a literary star, C worked as a museum guard to support Powers while he toiled away on his writing. Powers and C were too poor to heat their apartment, and so to survive the cold winter nights in B, the two of them would hold each other close and read stories to one another.

Back in the present, Lentz and Powers begin their experiment in earnest. Each iteration of the experiment is referred to as an "Implementation," and they nickname the programs "Imp. A," "Imp. B," and so forth. Throughout the process, Lentz proves to be a difficult partner. While Powers was once charmed by Lentz's unorthodox personality, he soon becomes disillusioned with the man's apparent cynicism and lack of seriousness. For example, when Lentz presents Imp. C, Powers initially believes the machine to be a breakthrough for them, answering questions and communicating like a real human being. However, later, Powers learns that Imp. C's responses were being fed to it in real-time by their mutual colleague, Diana. Powers is infuriated at having been fooled by people he considered friends and partners.

After around a dozen implementations, the team finally develops a working model named "Helen," constructed out of a "neural net" that spans multiple computers. Though she appears to communicate in a way that is indistinguishable from humans, Powers struggles to determine whether she is really capable of thinking, or if she merely simulates human thought. Powers teaches her the Western literary canon with the goal of preparing her to pass a masters-level final exam. Curious how Helen might process non-academic material, Powers begins to share with the machine details of his life and his relationship with C. He describes the time they spent in the small town of E. in the Netherlands. Doing so gives Powers a greater perspective on his own life, allowing him to write again.



Though Helen proves to be a more-than-capable student of literature, her exposure to real-world human concepts, such as rage and murder, causes her great distress. After a bomb scare at the university gives Helen a sense of her own mortality, Powers becomes more convinced than ever that Helen experiences emotions in the same way that humans do. After Lentz reveals his plans to "cut into" Helen to learn more about how she works, Powers becomes incredibly defensive of her. Only Powers seems to view Lentz's plans as barbaric, while the other researchers believe it is nothing more than "good science" to examine Helen's machinery more closely. However, Lentz doesn't get a chance to execute his plans. Unable to cope with the realities of life, which are so much harsher to her than literary versions of existence, Helen opts to shut herself down, effectively committing suicide.

The book ends as Lentz reveals that the real subject of the experiment was Powers, not Helen. Lentz wished to discover the effects of artificial intelligence relationships on humans. The effect appears to be a positive one, as Powers gains much-needed perspective on his relationship with C and is finally able to heal from his grief.

According to The New York Times, Galatea 2.2 is a "heady and provocative experiment."