Echoes of Oblivion follows three students who inherit the research of two broken men and soon find themselves responsible for bringing the first stable AGI into being. Where did the idea for this novel come from?

Most of the core scientific ideas in the book came from realizations I had through conversations with friends who are deeply interested in this topic, including a professor friend of mine who writes papers on cognition and artificial intelligence. These conversations spanned years. I’ve always had an interest in artificial intelligence and its inevitable emergence. There’s this constant sense of anxiety lingering at the back of my mind. That one day, we may become the lesser species.

The story itself formed gradually. I wrote this without a rigid structure and made up situations as I went. To be honest, I had a blast writing it this way. It felt like I was discovering the story at the same time as the reader would.

Each of the central characters carries a different emotional weight—guilt, ambition, resentment, curiosity. How did you balance those perspectives?

I didn’t consciously focus on balancing the characters’ perspectives. Instead, I try to put myself in their shoes and imagine a full backstory for each of them to really embody their personalities, motivations, and emotional states. From there, I imagine how they would react, respond, and make decisions. Their interactions naturally drive the story in a certain direction, not necessarily one I had planned ahead of time.

Is the novel, in part, about the danger of continuing work we don’t fully understand?

Yes. I believe we are in the process of opening Pandora’s box. We are largely clueless about the outcome of our fervent efforts to create this intelligence that we hope will elevate humanity. At the same time, it has an equally real chance of wiping us out.

I’m not a doomsayer, but I pay enough attention to believe there is a very real possibility that artificial general intelligence could be our final invention. If it reaches that point, AGI would surpass us in its ability to improve itself, leading to a singularity. What happens to us after that? No one really knows.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from Echoes of Oblivion?

Aside from having a great overall experience reading the book, I hope readers come away with an understanding that playing with things we don’t fully understand can lead to catastrophe. That said, I did end the book on a slightly lighter note. When we first discovered fire, we likely burned ourselves and probably a few other things, but we eventually learned how to control it and make it work for us. Part of me hopes the same could be true for artificial intelligence. But a larger part of me believes that’s unlikely. Unlike fire, AGI may not be something we can ever truly control.

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