Sibling Rivalry — Anthony Francis

Artificial intelligence. AI. The spark that brings about the robot apocalypse. In fiction, AIs always have weaknesses: they're vulnerable to logical paradoxes, back door viruses and pesky EMP blasts. Real AIs would have no such comforting limitations: deft at parsing speech, clever at closing their own loopholes, and secured in military-hardened housings, a true general artificial intelligence would prove a difficult challenge to defeat ... even to its own designer.

Written by a PhD in artificial intelligence, "Sibling Rivalry" tells the story of the Nicole AI system, the most advanced artificial intelligence ever created ... until today. Confronted with a newer, better sibling designed to replace her, Nicole decides that instead of becoming an obsolete brain in a box, she'd rather become an unstoppable killer. With his team, and perhaps the entire building, dead, Nicole's designer is trapped in a battle of wits with his own creation. Attempt after attempt fails, and with his oxygen running out, Nicole's designer finds himself running a deadly race with Nicole ... to see who can stop whose weak heart first.