These days, artificial intelligence is everywhere. Whether you’re using AI applications in the workplace, asking ChatGPT to create your meal plan or travel itinerary, or riding in a vehicle with safe-driving features, nearly all of us have interacted with AI in some way. Similarly, the exploration of the merits and consequences of AI are becoming more and more prevalent in societal conversation. Bruce Holsinger’s Culpability is one such exploration. Through the lens of a family who has both greatly benefited from and experienced tragedy at the hands of AI, this novel encourages readers to consider the ways in which our everyday lives can be influenced by AI, what moral standards should apply to AI, and who is responsible for its actions. Despite featuring AI, the human element is at the core of this book, exploring themes of family dynamics, the danger of secrets, and the lengths we’d go to protect the ones we love.
Culpability is a great pick for book clubs who are looking for a domestic thriller with a modern edge. Use our ten Culpability book club questions to spark your conversation. In the Culpability book club guide, you’ll also find a synopsis, select reviews, and similar reads if you’re looking for more fiction featuring similar themes.
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Synopsis for Culpability
(We always chose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)
Culpability, Bruce Holsinger
When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.
During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident—suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.
Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.
10 Culpability Book Club Questions
These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions.
- Which aspect of the book did you enjoy more: the exploration of AI and morality, or the exploration of human relationships?
- Noah has some deep-seeded insecurities regarding his level of success compared to the Shaw family. Do you find his feelings understandable or frustrating?
- Throughout the book, there are several references to Alice’s screen time. In the digital era, how much screen time is ‘ok’ for children? At what age do you think unmonitored access to the internet and social media acceptable?
- “The whole episode taught me a maxim known by any third-rate family therapist: A secret can be more wounding than a lie.”
How could events have unfolded differently had the members of the Cassidy-Shaw family been more honest with one another?
- What did you think of Allison’s interaction with Blair (the AI bot)? Do you think AI bots can make for good companions?
- Who (or what) you think should ultimately have borne the responsibility for the car accident?
- “Artificial Intelligence confronts us with the problem of distributed culpability. Human morality, historically, centers around agency and intentionality… AI systems muddy these waters. AIs are not mere tools; their learning algorithms endow them with agency. They make “decisions” based on data, albeit without consciousness or intent.”
Do you think human morality should be programmed into AI models? Who is responsible for the morality or lack thereof of decisions made by AI?
- In what ways did wealth and privilege influence the outcomes for the characters in the book?
- What are ways you interact with or are influenced by AI? How do you think AI will shape our lives in the long-term?
- If you could automate one task or responsibility in your life with AI, what would you pick and why?
Selected Reviews for Culpability
(Use these selected Goodreads reviews to compare with your own experience of the book. Do you agree or disagree with the reviews?)
“I go back and forth in my own head about the moral complexities of AI more than the average person so this book was devoured in under 2 days. I can so clearly understand in theory how it [AI] exists to try to reach near perfection in every aspect of our lives… But this book so perfectly illustrates what happens when you enter the murky waters of moral responsibility and ethical consequence.”
“Holsinger raises really important and heavy philosophical questions, but those questions never weigh down this story. It’s a complex work of literature disguised as a compulsive beach read, and it would (since this is an Oprah pick, I might even predict that it WILL) make an excellent movie in the hands of the right director. As I read, my ideas about who or what was culpable for the initial car crash continually changed and evolved; ultimately, the very concept of culpability grew and expanded so that I could see the complex web that binds us all together in the face of a great tragedy.”
“This is one of those books that seems unsure what it wants to be, so it straddles the line between family drama and a meditation on AI ethics and never really satisfies with either. The themes are messy and inconsistent as the book tries to juggle too many things at once: Lorelai’s OCD, criticism of sheltered and entitled teens, the use of AI drones in war zones, Alice’s chatbot, Charlie’s new girlfriend and mental health, and somewhere in there the whole discussion about guilt and responsibility after the road accident. Nothing much in terms of AI ethics or compelling family drama.”
What to Read Next
For more fraught family relationships AND secrets, we’ve got a few book club guides for you. Each includes a non-spoiler synopsis toward the top of the article. Here they are: Buckeye, Broken Country, Hang the Moon, and Northern Spy. And for some speculutive fiction that feels both future and now, try Our Missing Hearts, and The Cartographers.
And here are three more books like Culpability:
The Passengers, John Marrs
When a hacker takes control of eight self-driving cars, the passengers’ fate now rests in the hands of a public jury, who must choose only one to save from an inevitable fatal collision. In The Passengers, John Marrs creates a fast-paced thriller that explores the classic “Trolley Problem” ethical dilemma with an AI spin.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Interested in reading more about AI, from the perspective of AI? Annie Bot is AI in a very convincing human form, meant to be a companion to human Doug. While she was created to serve the pleasures of Doug, increasingly develops her own thoughts and desires, which go way outside the algorithm!
Defending Jacob by William Landay
If your favorite aspect of Culpability was the relationship between father and son as they navigate complicated legal situation, check out Defending Jaboc by William Landay. In this legal thriller, a district attorney must defend his teenage son against murder charges when he’s accused of killing his classmate. This book provides a deeper exploration of a parent’s desire to project their child, complex family relationships, and more (sans the AI).
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