Today I hope to entertain you with a very short story. 

Despite some success with having my short fiction published in the past, in the last couple of years I've had less acceptances, despite continuing to submit. Has the quality of my output dropped or is it just coincidence? Who can tell?

However, in the case of this story I suspect the problem was the subject matter.

The inspiration came from my frustration as a web developer when I saw potential clients not hiring people like me to build sites for them but instead plumping for Build-It-Yourself services like Wix or Squarespace.

Fair enough of course, it is a free market and why pay the going rate for a freelancer when you can DIY with a drag and drop service? 

I began to wonder whether the AIs would eventually put all developers out of a job, and what jobs would remain for people like me when it was quicker and cheaper to get a machine to do it. The creative arts would surely be immune...

And then the classic SF inspiration popped into my head. But what if...?  Thus was this tale - no more than a quick flash fiction really - born.

I couldn't find anyone who wanted to publish it. One outlet replied to me with an email suggesting that they thought I was trolling their submissions pile... I can see how they might think that due to the somewhat meta nature of the piece but that genuinely wasn't the case here.

I really was just thinking "What if...?"

Once Upon A.I.

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Some admin - I am very pleased to report there has been a flurry of new pledges and we now stand at 56% completion. Enormous thanks to every one of you who has pledged so far - it feels like we don't have that far to go now so let's forge ahead to 70% at which point I would like to think that the end will indeed be in sight.

Tell your friends, colleagues and acquaintances - every pledge counts towards the ultimate goal.