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The Machine is Learning
Saransh works at a life insurance company, as part of the Special Projects Group (SPG). Their current project is the development of an Artificial Intelligence system that will leave 552 branch-level employees redundant overnight. Because of site-specific customizations, however, the system needs to collect information from the company's various branches. Thus begins a cycle in which Saransh travels across the country, interviewing the very people that his machine will replace soon. Meanwhile, Saransh's conscientious ex-journalist girlfriend Jyoti repeatedly questions his complicity in the impending destruction of hundreds of lives.
The Machine is Learning is a novel about twenty-first-century workplaces, love and the impact of technology in all of our lives. It interrogates a world order that accommodates guilt but offers no truly ethical course correction.
The Machine is Learning is a novel about twenty-first-century workplaces, love and the impact of technology in all of our lives. It interrogates a world order that accommodates guilt but offers no truly ethical course correction.
190 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2020
8 people are currently reading
474 people want to read
About the author
Tanuj Solanki
6 books441 followersTanuj Solanki is the author of four works of fiction. His debut novel Neon Noon was shortlisted for the Tata Lit Live First Book Award 2016. His second, the short-story collection titled Diwali in Muzaffarnagar, won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2019. His novel The Machine is Learning was longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2020 and was listed by The Hindu as among the 10 best fiction books of 2020.
Manjhi's Mayhem
, his latest novel, was also longlisted for the JCB Prize 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
July 29, 2020
In a highly capitalized world where the sole aim of a company is to increase profit margins at any rate, it isn't a surprise that Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning systems are employed/ are beginning to be employed to replace humans.
In this novel, the protagonist finds himself in a situation where he is leading a team to develop a ML system for the company he is employed with. This also involves inerviewing the very people the system is going to make redundant. Saransh, the protagonist, comes from a small town middle class background. He is aspiring as well as conflicted. Does this make any difference to what he is doing/ about to do in the project?
While reading the book, I realised that it touched upon many issues pertinent to present times. I reviewed the book for the magazine Kitaab here:
https://kitaab.org/2020/07/29/the-mac...
In this novel, the protagonist finds himself in a situation where he is leading a team to develop a ML system for the company he is employed with. This also involves inerviewing the very people the system is going to make redundant. Saransh, the protagonist, comes from a small town middle class background. He is aspiring as well as conflicted. Does this make any difference to what he is doing/ about to do in the project?
While reading the book, I realised that it touched upon many issues pertinent to present times. I reviewed the book for the magazine Kitaab here:
https://kitaab.org/2020/07/29/the-mac...
August 26, 2020
Set in a corporate world, Saransh and Mitesh are travelling to cities, interviewing employees as part of their special project, which will, unknown to these interviewees, will eventually lead to 500 something people losing their jobs. Saransh’s girlfriend is not very welcoming of the idea.
Strengths
- The workplace! We don’t usually see corporate workplaces written very well. They form a small part only in many novels while the protagonist’s domestic or love life is given more importance. In The Machine is Learning, we are very much in the game. We follow the office folks through presentations, strategies, game plans, interviews across different cities, work talks, meet ups after work etc. This is the part I liked best in the book. Also Solanki does not dumb it down. He writes for the intelligent reader and also explains terms that a regular reader might not be familiar with in a non-overwhelming manner.
- Priya, Mitesh’s wife, has a very small role in the book. But her character strength is commendable. In few scenes Solanki crafts her beautifully.
- Guilt and dissociation runs throughout the book. Why does something impart more guilt than something else, perhaps closer to our own work/land etc? How do we pacify guilt when it is a consequence of the job we worked hard for.
- The novel explores hypocrisy in workplaces, towards domestic helps in households, the ineffectiveness of HR, the burying of sexual scandals at workplace for the men holding higher positions etc.
- It also explores how our upbringing, familial background and finances might affect the way we function. Can one talk about an ideological world, when from a selfish point of view, much is at stake?
- The ending- Don’t want to elaborate. I really liked how the book ended.
What didn’t work for me
I wish Jyoti offered more as a character. I could not connect to her and she often had a voice that talked about the problems in the book—the ‘villain’ voice that questions ethics and makes the other characters uncomfortable. She often seems to be doing only 'this' while Mitesh, Sarash and even Priya had a more rounded personalities. Because of this, I wasn’t able to see the spark between Jyoti and Saransh or why they are together.
Verdict
A good, well done relatable novel, and also one of the best to be set in corporate workplaces of 21st century. It shows how broken the capitalist system is. It offers no morals but makes us question our own part in being a cog in the system.
Much thanks to Pan Macmillan India for an e- copy of the book. All opinions are my own.
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Strengths
- The workplace! We don’t usually see corporate workplaces written very well. They form a small part only in many novels while the protagonist’s domestic or love life is given more importance. In The Machine is Learning, we are very much in the game. We follow the office folks through presentations, strategies, game plans, interviews across different cities, work talks, meet ups after work etc. This is the part I liked best in the book. Also Solanki does not dumb it down. He writes for the intelligent reader and also explains terms that a regular reader might not be familiar with in a non-overwhelming manner.
- Priya, Mitesh’s wife, has a very small role in the book. But her character strength is commendable. In few scenes Solanki crafts her beautifully.
- Guilt and dissociation runs throughout the book. Why does something impart more guilt than something else, perhaps closer to our own work/land etc? How do we pacify guilt when it is a consequence of the job we worked hard for.
- The novel explores hypocrisy in workplaces, towards domestic helps in households, the ineffectiveness of HR, the burying of sexual scandals at workplace for the men holding higher positions etc.
- It also explores how our upbringing, familial background and finances might affect the way we function. Can one talk about an ideological world, when from a selfish point of view, much is at stake?
- The ending- Don’t want to elaborate. I really liked how the book ended.
What didn’t work for me
I wish Jyoti offered more as a character. I could not connect to her and she often had a voice that talked about the problems in the book—the ‘villain’ voice that questions ethics and makes the other characters uncomfortable. She often seems to be doing only 'this' while Mitesh, Sarash and even Priya had a more rounded personalities. Because of this, I wasn’t able to see the spark between Jyoti and Saransh or why they are together.
Verdict
A good, well done relatable novel, and also one of the best to be set in corporate workplaces of 21st century. It shows how broken the capitalist system is. It offers no morals but makes us question our own part in being a cog in the system.
Much thanks to Pan Macmillan India for an e- copy of the book. All opinions are my own.
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September 26, 2020
Saransh's life at a life insurance company is monotonous until Jyoti happens. Now his life might not be as monotonous, but it's full of questions and unshakable guilt. Jyoti, opinionated and armed with facts, gives Saransh a look in the mirror, his actions at his workplace might lead to something tragic and irreparable.
The corporate workplace is a novel setup, one that is rarely seen. The internal workings of a team determined to replace human beings with technology has an evil vibe to it. But that is what Mitesh and Saransh do. They interview people and trick them into thinking that it's a general survey while trying to replace each one of them through a technology that is custom built to understand the human mind and replace it.
'The Machine is Learning' is mundane but equipped with themes such as privilege, caste and politics. All in the form of a conversation between two employees and a couple. A relevant take on the modern-day impact of technology in the livelihoods of millions of people, this is a dystopian world we didn't know we were living in.
What didn't work for me were Jyoti's dialogues, that took up more space than required. She emits the typical righteous journalist vibe that feels overdone.
But however briefly the book touches capitalism, its impact reverberates for a long time.
The corporate workplace is a novel setup, one that is rarely seen. The internal workings of a team determined to replace human beings with technology has an evil vibe to it. But that is what Mitesh and Saransh do. They interview people and trick them into thinking that it's a general survey while trying to replace each one of them through a technology that is custom built to understand the human mind and replace it.
'The Machine is Learning' is mundane but equipped with themes such as privilege, caste and politics. All in the form of a conversation between two employees and a couple. A relevant take on the modern-day impact of technology in the livelihoods of millions of people, this is a dystopian world we didn't know we were living in.
What didn't work for me were Jyoti's dialogues, that took up more space than required. She emits the typical righteous journalist vibe that feels overdone.
But however briefly the book touches capitalism, its impact reverberates for a long time.
September 22, 2020
Unless you are someone who comes from a background of working in the life insurance sector, the first chapter of this book will test your patience: the allocation of roles and targets to every layer of employees,the abbreviations. The technicalities of everything that goes behind the job of selling a life insurance that in the long run really amounts to nothing to the people it is meant to take care of is an apt metaphor for what this book holds at its core: how humans are becoming more like automated machines.
The main protagonist Saransh is every single one of us who fall back on the market system to make life easier while telling ourselves we care for the big and small things in the world around us, while also telling ourselves that we can never do enough to make things better, ‘because the system is such’. Saransh’s middle class roots, his high educational qualifications, his skills set him up in a position where he is going to deal with people who are going to be jobless soon thanks to a technology that is bringing together. What happens when he finds himself stepping out of his professional sphere to a more humane track is what forms the crux of the book.
The writing is clever, it pummels the reader with banalities and then throws in existential questions, and ones that will make you the reader take some time to be honest about. The main protagonist’s relationship to a woman he’s met on Tinder and the conversations they have is symbolic of every tilt and allegiance in contemporary India today. This one definitely makes me keen to read more of the author.
The main protagonist Saransh is every single one of us who fall back on the market system to make life easier while telling ourselves we care for the big and small things in the world around us, while also telling ourselves that we can never do enough to make things better, ‘because the system is such’. Saransh’s middle class roots, his high educational qualifications, his skills set him up in a position where he is going to deal with people who are going to be jobless soon thanks to a technology that is bringing together. What happens when he finds himself stepping out of his professional sphere to a more humane track is what forms the crux of the book.
The writing is clever, it pummels the reader with banalities and then throws in existential questions, and ones that will make you the reader take some time to be honest about. The main protagonist’s relationship to a woman he’s met on Tinder and the conversations they have is symbolic of every tilt and allegiance in contemporary India today. This one definitely makes me keen to read more of the author.
September 26, 2020
The Machine is Learning is a novel about humans, written for humans. It is ironic to say a sentence like that because one could argue all novels, or all art forms, are fundamentally created for the sake of human consumption. But, as the title of Tanuj Solanki’s novel suggests, the machines are indeed learning: they’re learning to write poetry, to draw paintings, to sing human songs. And in the case of the protagonist Saransh Malik’s world, the threat is closer yet, as the machines creep into his professional life, threatening to steal away work from those under him.
- Please read more of my thoughts on The Machine is Learning in this piece I wrote over at The Chakkar
https://www.thechakkar.com/home/thema...
- Please read more of my thoughts on The Machine is Learning in this piece I wrote over at The Chakkar
https://www.thechakkar.com/home/thema...
October 15, 2020
First things first- I am married to the author. You should know this because I don't want to masquerade as a random reader who received a review copy or some such. But you should also know that when I gave Tanuj my feedback on his first ever manuscript, he seriously questioned for two days whether he should even attempt to publish it (and perhaps the pain he had signed up for in marrying me. But he's a wise man so he didn't tell me that). All of this is to say, I try to be objective.
There's much that TMIL is not. It's not, for instance, a tutorial or storied textbook on AI/ML so you'll be disappointed if you pick it up expecting to learn about these. It is not science fiction, or a resolution of the big ethical questions around AI/ML. Hell, it is not even a romance novel, although there is some romance in there. There is no deliverance, but many questions around capitalism and our own complicity in preserving its ills. A lot of confusion, some low-key guilt. No one wins. In fact, you come away wondering if there's anything winnable at all in all this. The protagonist is not a hero, despite his heroic attempt at a war on capitalism.
At best, this book is a mirror. It's not the right read for you if you're expecting larger-than-life drama or a bleak dystopian future. The strength of the book lies in bringing alive the brokenness of the system in the here-and-now, in the small insiduous ways we're all party to it. Less a dinosaur attack, more an ant finding its way back onto your arm over and over.
Fair warning- some of the details on the ML project, office set up and corporate jargon may be cumbersome for certain readers. To me, they are what made the book stand out as one never quite sees them in fiction.
There's much that TMIL is not. It's not, for instance, a tutorial or storied textbook on AI/ML so you'll be disappointed if you pick it up expecting to learn about these. It is not science fiction, or a resolution of the big ethical questions around AI/ML. Hell, it is not even a romance novel, although there is some romance in there. There is no deliverance, but many questions around capitalism and our own complicity in preserving its ills. A lot of confusion, some low-key guilt. No one wins. In fact, you come away wondering if there's anything winnable at all in all this. The protagonist is not a hero, despite his heroic attempt at a war on capitalism.
At best, this book is a mirror. It's not the right read for you if you're expecting larger-than-life drama or a bleak dystopian future. The strength of the book lies in bringing alive the brokenness of the system in the here-and-now, in the small insiduous ways we're all party to it. Less a dinosaur attack, more an ant finding its way back onto your arm over and over.
Fair warning- some of the details on the ML project, office set up and corporate jargon may be cumbersome for certain readers. To me, they are what made the book stand out as one never quite sees them in fiction.
April 15, 2021
Saransh Malik works at a life insurance company where he is “part of a team that looks after some of the more ambitious technology projects. Projects focusing on automation, digitalization…” It involves evaluating the employees to be made redundant as the new software takes over more processes. Saransh goes about his work with the efficiency he prides himself in until he meets Jyoti, a fiery journalist. Jyoti disapproves of Saransh’s work and raises many questions about his ethics. Here’s where his life begins to change.
Longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2020, Tanuj Solanki’s “The Machine is Learning” has a fairly common theme of AI erasing the need for humans. What made it a unique read for me was its Indian corporate life and work setting. Solanki writes with the sure hand of someone well attuned to corporate politics and policies. He devotes the first few pages for an immersive introduction to Saransh and Mitesh, the two main worker bees, and to the processes within the insurance company. This part, while difficult to keep track of is a very accurate reflection of how the corporate world is replete with acronyms. Bansal Life Insurance Company is BLIC, Local Operations Executive is LOE, Branch Manager is BM, and so on.
The excellent external world building extends into Saransh’s inner life too. When the story begins, he is like an automaton himself. Like a typical employee, he strives for the next promotion, the next salary raise, and his immediate objective is to make the AI implementation project a success. Until he meets Jyoti. She cuts through his corporatese with questions that make him uncomfortable.
“People getting fired should bother everyone, no? Tch…you guys are so besotted by the benefits of technology.”
“What happens to the people whose livelihoods are lost?”
At first, Saransh’s replies are blasé, robotic, and unempathetic.
“‘they reskill themselves.’ This is spoken in an airy way that I don’t much like myself.”
I really love how Solanki navigates Saransh’s emotional complexities through long philosophical monologues or discussions with others. Mitesh doesn’t undergo much change but we need him to offset Saransh. Then there’s Jyoti, who, to me, was the most one-dimensional character despite her agency in Saransh’s life. I didn’t completely understand the dynamics between her and Saransh and she sometimes fits the stereotypical journalist image too much.
Ultimately, the book goes far beyond just the AI vs human debate. Morals, capitalism, personal values…Solanki covers a lot of ground. Definitely recommended.
Longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2020, Tanuj Solanki’s “The Machine is Learning” has a fairly common theme of AI erasing the need for humans. What made it a unique read for me was its Indian corporate life and work setting. Solanki writes with the sure hand of someone well attuned to corporate politics and policies. He devotes the first few pages for an immersive introduction to Saransh and Mitesh, the two main worker bees, and to the processes within the insurance company. This part, while difficult to keep track of is a very accurate reflection of how the corporate world is replete with acronyms. Bansal Life Insurance Company is BLIC, Local Operations Executive is LOE, Branch Manager is BM, and so on.
The excellent external world building extends into Saransh’s inner life too. When the story begins, he is like an automaton himself. Like a typical employee, he strives for the next promotion, the next salary raise, and his immediate objective is to make the AI implementation project a success. Until he meets Jyoti. She cuts through his corporatese with questions that make him uncomfortable.
“People getting fired should bother everyone, no? Tch…you guys are so besotted by the benefits of technology.”
“What happens to the people whose livelihoods are lost?”
At first, Saransh’s replies are blasé, robotic, and unempathetic.
“‘they reskill themselves.’ This is spoken in an airy way that I don’t much like myself.”
I really love how Solanki navigates Saransh’s emotional complexities through long philosophical monologues or discussions with others. Mitesh doesn’t undergo much change but we need him to offset Saransh. Then there’s Jyoti, who, to me, was the most one-dimensional character despite her agency in Saransh’s life. I didn’t completely understand the dynamics between her and Saransh and she sometimes fits the stereotypical journalist image too much.
Ultimately, the book goes far beyond just the AI vs human debate. Morals, capitalism, personal values…Solanki covers a lot of ground. Definitely recommended.
September 18, 2020
I chanced upon this book because it's been longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2020.
Our protagonist has a typical corporate job in an insurance company, and is working on a special project that plans to automate a bunch of stuff using AI/machine learning, which means hordes of people will lose their manual jobs. And it's this tradeoff, this tussle, and this existential question of what 'progress' in the name of wiping out livelihoods means - that this story grapples with.
If you're someone who works a corporate job - you're gonna find lots to relate to. And if you particularly working in a job that cares little for social impact, this one's gonna hit you in the feels. But to be fair, this book is for any one who has privilege - and if you're reading this review, that's you.
I think the beauty of this book is not that the story is spectacular. The star is how mundane the events felt - much like the rut of a corporate conformist life. Tanuj writes of privilege, caste, right wing politics, and sexism. But these are all understated - just as they are in the conversations you and I have with our privileged peers. Second hand guilt about the world going to shit, but never direct enough to really spur us into action.
I can't put a finger on what stopped me from loving it. Maybe the arc of the protagonist's girlfriend being the 'righteous journalist type' left a slightly bitter taste in me. But the ending made me feel stuck in an infinite circle of existential doom. I liked it, coz that's life? And these are dystopic times. Which is why this book is relevant, and quite the searing take on 21st century workplaces and how we're all slaves to capitalism (seriously, if you've ever opined about this, read this book).
Our protagonist has a typical corporate job in an insurance company, and is working on a special project that plans to automate a bunch of stuff using AI/machine learning, which means hordes of people will lose their manual jobs. And it's this tradeoff, this tussle, and this existential question of what 'progress' in the name of wiping out livelihoods means - that this story grapples with.
If you're someone who works a corporate job - you're gonna find lots to relate to. And if you particularly working in a job that cares little for social impact, this one's gonna hit you in the feels. But to be fair, this book is for any one who has privilege - and if you're reading this review, that's you.
I think the beauty of this book is not that the story is spectacular. The star is how mundane the events felt - much like the rut of a corporate conformist life. Tanuj writes of privilege, caste, right wing politics, and sexism. But these are all understated - just as they are in the conversations you and I have with our privileged peers. Second hand guilt about the world going to shit, but never direct enough to really spur us into action.
I can't put a finger on what stopped me from loving it. Maybe the arc of the protagonist's girlfriend being the 'righteous journalist type' left a slightly bitter taste in me. But the ending made me feel stuck in an infinite circle of existential doom. I liked it, coz that's life? And these are dystopic times. Which is why this book is relevant, and quite the searing take on 21st century workplaces and how we're all slaves to capitalism (seriously, if you've ever opined about this, read this book).
October 30, 2023
★★★½
Why it was picked:
JCB longlist 2020
Highlights:
Automation eating up jobs. Debates on Socialist vs Capitalist ideologies.
Synopsis:
Saransh is an A grade executive in an insurance firm, whose job is to remove reduntant workforce via automation. On one of his official trips, he trips over Jyoti (ex-journalist) via Tinder. Jyoti's ethical opinions on Saransh's job impacts him deeply - to the point of his existential identity in the corporate world. How it unfolds further is for you to find out.
Loved:
1. The core topic - automation for cost optimisation.
2. Thoughtful interactions between Saransh and Jyoti.
3. The depiction of corporate world and day to day employee life. Though it could have been better.
4. The jovial friendly banter of Saransh and Mitesh.
5. That informal conversation with the Boss.
Overall:
However the overall writing felt average. The whole idea could have been delivered by better punches and editing. Some food for thought on human existence and the boundaries of progress. Especially if you are directly or indirectly into automation!
Why it was picked:
JCB longlist 2020
Highlights:
Automation eating up jobs. Debates on Socialist vs Capitalist ideologies.
Synopsis:
Saransh is an A grade executive in an insurance firm, whose job is to remove reduntant workforce via automation. On one of his official trips, he trips over Jyoti (ex-journalist) via Tinder. Jyoti's ethical opinions on Saransh's job impacts him deeply - to the point of his existential identity in the corporate world. How it unfolds further is for you to find out.
Loved:
1. The core topic - automation for cost optimisation.
2. Thoughtful interactions between Saransh and Jyoti.
3. The depiction of corporate world and day to day employee life. Though it could have been better.
4. The jovial friendly banter of Saransh and Mitesh.
5. That informal conversation with the Boss.
Overall:
However the overall writing felt average. The whole idea could have been delivered by better punches and editing. Some food for thought on human existence and the boundaries of progress. Especially if you are directly or indirectly into automation!
July 14, 2020
The machines are here. The machines are ready to take over. They have been programmed, they are up and running. And more importantly, the machines are learning. Soon enough the need for humans to do menial to important tasks will reduce. Isn’t that the reason behind all the machine learning? Isn’t that why we are teaching them? Innovation. Growth. Progress.
But when humanity progresses who is left behind? When we talk about technological advancement when we talk about changing the world, how do we envision this changed world? When our leaders throw around words like growth, achievement, change, progress who are they talking about? These are some of the questions we come face to face with while reading Tanuj Solanki’s third book, ‘The Machine is Learning.’
Solanki’s world unfolds within an insurance company where our protagonist Saransh works as a part of a Special Project’s Group (SPG) which is the team teaching the machines. His job is to understand the tasks being performed by those employees who will be the first to go once the machine has learnt all there is to learn. And everything is working like the well-oiled machine this system is supposed to be, till Saransh meets Jyoti. Jyoti, a former journalist and a product of the woke generation pushes Saransh into a journey of his own.
Solanki’s novel is a warning for the time to come. It isn’t a dystopian future but a dystopian present. And how we all need to be the agents of change, or delay, till we figure out what to do next. But there is no saving of the world happening in this book. Saransh is the character who goes through changes that shy away from being radical or spectacular. This restraint that Solanki offers is what I admired the most about the book. The kind of social realism Solanki dips his nib in is frustrating and real.
You want the characters to undergo growth that is big, and world-altering. But the character grows only to ask more questions and get more puzzled. The characters come out of one situation as winners only to realize that these are the same hoops they have to keep jumping. Now for how long can this hoop-jumping last? Especially if you are like Saransh, someone who grew up in a lower-middle-class household in a small town where all you had going for yourself and your family were your big aspirations.
These are the subtle nuances that readers will be able to relate to. Solanki’s characters are not Bollywood brave. Saransh will fight the system but will check his bank balance to see how much fight his savings allow. Solanki is not offering us a hero. He is offering us an everyday man who is as stuck within the system as you and I are. He is offering us not-very-likable and therefore very relatable characters that have their values as much as they have their desires and their hypocrisies.
I started out by relating to Jyoti’s character and ended up hating her the most. She is headstrong, blunt, often cruel, and unkind, believes in too many things too strongly, but we don’t see her act on any of her beliefs even once. Jyoti to me for the prototype of the internet feminists who are quick anger but we don’t know how they will react when push comes to shove. Or rather, for who push may never come to shove because of the comforts and privileges they are ashamed of but still fall back upon when need be. It is a difficult character to write as a male author. It opens you up to easy labels, but Solanki manages to generate enough empathy for Jyoti and doesn’t leave her as just a catalyst for change in the life of the hero.
Mithesh, the man Saransh works with the most is someone we all know and love to hate. He is the one whose complicity in the system is the most obvious but what is not obvious is how can we make him see that as a problem. Mitesh is a deliciously grey character who I think Solanki had the most fun writing. He is uncaring, but also not evil. He is has been deeply sucked in by the system so much so that he has managed to reduce people to numbers. And forgotten their humanity. But Solanki’s aim is not to show us how we can change the Mitesh’s of the world.
This is not an optimistic book. His aim is to us that the Miteshs will in all probability remain so. We have to work with them and around them and hope for some change despite their existence. The Miteshs like the machines are here to stay.
Solanki touches upon several important themes of gender, caste, class. But because he isn’t a preachy writer we don’t get big lectures on any issue. In an uncomfortable scene where Jyoti trying to confront Mitesh and his wife on their casteism creates a difficult situation, we are made to see the problem not just with Mitesh, but with Jyoti and her white savior complex. This is a tightly written chapter that is stretched out in one long scene that keeps you gripped and makes you nervous at the same time.
Solanki is an important writer, who isn’t shying away from asking political questions. And a rare and realist voice that needs to be heard more often. In the times that we are living in, Solanki is doing the hard job of archiving our present and forewarning us of things happening around us that are going unseen, and things that are about to unfold as we keep up with our sleepwalk. This is an important book that we all need to read.
But when humanity progresses who is left behind? When we talk about technological advancement when we talk about changing the world, how do we envision this changed world? When our leaders throw around words like growth, achievement, change, progress who are they talking about? These are some of the questions we come face to face with while reading Tanuj Solanki’s third book, ‘The Machine is Learning.’
Solanki’s world unfolds within an insurance company where our protagonist Saransh works as a part of a Special Project’s Group (SPG) which is the team teaching the machines. His job is to understand the tasks being performed by those employees who will be the first to go once the machine has learnt all there is to learn. And everything is working like the well-oiled machine this system is supposed to be, till Saransh meets Jyoti. Jyoti, a former journalist and a product of the woke generation pushes Saransh into a journey of his own.
Solanki’s novel is a warning for the time to come. It isn’t a dystopian future but a dystopian present. And how we all need to be the agents of change, or delay, till we figure out what to do next. But there is no saving of the world happening in this book. Saransh is the character who goes through changes that shy away from being radical or spectacular. This restraint that Solanki offers is what I admired the most about the book. The kind of social realism Solanki dips his nib in is frustrating and real.
You want the characters to undergo growth that is big, and world-altering. But the character grows only to ask more questions and get more puzzled. The characters come out of one situation as winners only to realize that these are the same hoops they have to keep jumping. Now for how long can this hoop-jumping last? Especially if you are like Saransh, someone who grew up in a lower-middle-class household in a small town where all you had going for yourself and your family were your big aspirations.
These are the subtle nuances that readers will be able to relate to. Solanki’s characters are not Bollywood brave. Saransh will fight the system but will check his bank balance to see how much fight his savings allow. Solanki is not offering us a hero. He is offering us an everyday man who is as stuck within the system as you and I are. He is offering us not-very-likable and therefore very relatable characters that have their values as much as they have their desires and their hypocrisies.
I started out by relating to Jyoti’s character and ended up hating her the most. She is headstrong, blunt, often cruel, and unkind, believes in too many things too strongly, but we don’t see her act on any of her beliefs even once. Jyoti to me for the prototype of the internet feminists who are quick anger but we don’t know how they will react when push comes to shove. Or rather, for who push may never come to shove because of the comforts and privileges they are ashamed of but still fall back upon when need be. It is a difficult character to write as a male author. It opens you up to easy labels, but Solanki manages to generate enough empathy for Jyoti and doesn’t leave her as just a catalyst for change in the life of the hero.
Mithesh, the man Saransh works with the most is someone we all know and love to hate. He is the one whose complicity in the system is the most obvious but what is not obvious is how can we make him see that as a problem. Mitesh is a deliciously grey character who I think Solanki had the most fun writing. He is uncaring, but also not evil. He is has been deeply sucked in by the system so much so that he has managed to reduce people to numbers. And forgotten their humanity. But Solanki’s aim is not to show us how we can change the Mitesh’s of the world.
This is not an optimistic book. His aim is to us that the Miteshs will in all probability remain so. We have to work with them and around them and hope for some change despite their existence. The Miteshs like the machines are here to stay.
Solanki touches upon several important themes of gender, caste, class. But because he isn’t a preachy writer we don’t get big lectures on any issue. In an uncomfortable scene where Jyoti trying to confront Mitesh and his wife on their casteism creates a difficult situation, we are made to see the problem not just with Mitesh, but with Jyoti and her white savior complex. This is a tightly written chapter that is stretched out in one long scene that keeps you gripped and makes you nervous at the same time.
Solanki is an important writer, who isn’t shying away from asking political questions. And a rare and realist voice that needs to be heard more often. In the times that we are living in, Solanki is doing the hard job of archiving our present and forewarning us of things happening around us that are going unseen, and things that are about to unfold as we keep up with our sleepwalk. This is an important book that we all need to read.
January 7, 2021
I am by no means a Luddite, but I am often drawn to the philosophical battle between technology, the work that technology obviates, and an economy that prioritizes profit above all else, including and especially workers. I don't know if I've ever come across a story that portrays each side of the debate with such even-handed clarity and insight, and yet with a fairness that the workers' side of the debate seldom enjoys.
Throwing in the clash of a soulless corporate culture and journalistic ethics, all sparked by one person's fiendish instinct to do the right thing, made this a great read for me. I recommend this story to anyone - especially the reader who questions whether technological advances and true progress are one and the same.
Transparency: I don't often get to read fiction written by someone with whom I have a personal connection. I have never met the author, but he is married to a good friend of mine - a friend who had nothing to do with this review.
Throwing in the clash of a soulless corporate culture and journalistic ethics, all sparked by one person's fiendish instinct to do the right thing, made this a great read for me. I recommend this story to anyone - especially the reader who questions whether technological advances and true progress are one and the same.
Transparency: I don't often get to read fiction written by someone with whom I have a personal connection. I have never met the author, but he is married to a good friend of mine - a friend who had nothing to do with this review.
July 9, 2022
A modern-day fable showing the power of WhatsApp groups; though the long WhatsApp chats could have been done away with.
The author rakes up philosophical issues like the moral struggle of machines replacing humans, capitalism vs faux communism, small town boy stuck in the quagmire of India’s financial capital with the dilemma of devilish choices between ambition and integrity. There is a detailed minutiae of the Insurance industry
Immensely readable.
The author rakes up philosophical issues like the moral struggle of machines replacing humans, capitalism vs faux communism, small town boy stuck in the quagmire of India’s financial capital with the dilemma of devilish choices between ambition and integrity. There is a detailed minutiae of the Insurance industry
Immensely readable.
Read
February 22, 2023Writing that holds your attention. Read Diwali in Muzzafarnagar last year, which I found to be similarly good.
April 25, 2021
The book is one of its kind. Upon a suggestion of my friend, I started reading it. As the book revolves around an ethical dilemma, I couldn't deny the fact that it plunged me into one. For a moment I thought that is this technology even worth the effort. But then I had a sort of enlightenment when Unni said that with the coming of every new technology dozens of people become jobless. I realised that yes this is the circle of life. Then suddenly Bear Grylls flashed into my mind saying "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome", and that is I guess the quality of human beings. We create problems, we discover solutions, we adapt, we improve, we survive.
The writer's style of writing is placid, simple and easy to understand. The story also after a certain point of time becomes predictable. The character development could have been better. In short, it's a good one time read.
The writer's style of writing is placid, simple and easy to understand. The story also after a certain point of time becomes predictable. The character development could have been better. In short, it's a good one time read.
March 17, 2021
As I am writing this, there is a child who is getting help from all the corners of social media for a hefty amount of his medical treatment. While there are hundreds who are there, in darkened corners of cities, villages, countries - names of which we don't even know how to pronounce. In a sense, we are evolving, but is there any evolution?
Tanuj Solanki asks many such questions in his novel The Machine is Learning, in a way that jolts your conscience, only if you are willing to. Set and progressing in the current scenario, the storyline is a corporate story - corporates in which you and me are working. Everything is deja vu, from machines taking the place of men, men making more machines, making programs to remove those men. From as-is, to-be to go-live, the emotional turmoil of the lead character - Saransh, is something anyone has felt at any point of their lives. But it takes someone like Jyoti, who strikes that chord in you.
About writing style-despite being too deep in technicalities (detailed working of insurance companies and programming and machine learning) the pace feels breezy and at thankfully apt length, the novel feels easy to finish at one go. Though there are a bit fancy words thrown in (cleverly used in whatsapp chats) but that's fine once in a while.
This evolution will keep going on, but as the author puts it - when all this comes to pass, the answer to the question which side do you want to be on?
Tanuj Solanki asks many such questions in his novel The Machine is Learning, in a way that jolts your conscience, only if you are willing to. Set and progressing in the current scenario, the storyline is a corporate story - corporates in which you and me are working. Everything is deja vu, from machines taking the place of men, men making more machines, making programs to remove those men. From as-is, to-be to go-live, the emotional turmoil of the lead character - Saransh, is something anyone has felt at any point of their lives. But it takes someone like Jyoti, who strikes that chord in you.
About writing style-despite being too deep in technicalities (detailed working of insurance companies and programming and machine learning) the pace feels breezy and at thankfully apt length, the novel feels easy to finish at one go. Though there are a bit fancy words thrown in (cleverly used in whatsapp chats) but that's fine once in a while.
This evolution will keep going on, but as the author puts it - when all this comes to pass, the answer to the question which side do you want to be on?
September 20, 2020
Great to see a human vs machine saga being written in Indian context. A country already struggling with concept of honourable labour for all, due to widespread social ills cannot cope up with the takeover from code and machines..
Thanks Tanuj for putting your heart yet again into a topic so close and relateable to most of our lives.. I hope more and more corporate arses get called out in real life though. :-)
Thanks Tanuj for putting your heart yet again into a topic so close and relateable to most of our lives.. I hope more and more corporate arses get called out in real life though. :-)
September 18, 2020
Saransh Malik, is a part of a project. A project that shall use Machine Learning to take decisions, eliminating jobs, and earning him a fat bonus. A coveted position in the company, his life takes a strange turn when he comes across an ex journalist in Tinder. One thing leads to another, and soon Saransh finds himself at a place where he is unsure about what to do. And an impulse decision throws him into a crises. What hapenns is the suspense.
A refreshing take, and spells out the interaction between diverse personalities. Didn't like the relationship drag in between, else would have given a 5. Do read, is a fast read.
A refreshing take, and spells out the interaction between diverse personalities. Didn't like the relationship drag in between, else would have given a 5. Do read, is a fast read.
July 4, 2020
Let me be upfront about what I think about this novel: this is an important and greatly relevant piece of literature that raises some pivotal questions pertaining to the ultra-modern world we live in now. It’s a comparatively thin book and if you read without your smartphone nearby, you should be able to finish the book in one sitting. But then, the questions will haunt you. You won’t be able to pick up your phone and start scrolling mindlessly that you would have inadvertently done. You’ll keep wondering if you have read anything like this before. The answer would be a firm no. The tech-man relation and how it affects your head is the focus of this book.
(Now is a good time to let you know that there will be spoilers from now.)
Saransh, the narrator and the protagonist is working on a project that uses machine learning to predict normal human behaviour which will finally make the humans redundant. The question Saransh will try to answer is whether he should be part of such a project and even if he is, whether there is an alternative where this new tech and people it aims to make redundant can flourish together. The wheel of capitalism will make technologies that will try to minimise human involvement and humans will get involved into more interaction oriented jobs. The intelligent jobs. What happens when intelligence itself can be cultivated artificially? This is a unique situation to mankind and there will be a lot to discuss.
The start of this discussion happens in the novel when Jyoti, whom Saransh has met via Tinder comes to know his work and questions its intentions. Saransh who hails from a small town, who has struggled to reach Mumbai from Muzaffarnagar, knows in his heart the point Jyoti is trying to make (this perhaps is one of the reasons he falls for her), but still argues for the importance of technological advancement and inevitability of leaving some people behind. Jyoti argues there must be a way to do both: make the tech work and still keep the people.
Finally they will realise it would not be possible; the corporate God (the narrator compares the corporate culture to religion, daily commuting in large groups to pilgrimage, the honking to the chants, the grandiosity of temples to the tall glass buildings placed on a higher ground) is ruthless. They realise that a technology that can track your digital activity, learn about you and then predict your personality is all too powerful. That the machine is learning constantly about you to one day be able to replace some of you. This is what makes the title fear-inducing, daunting and cool.
So what Jyoti suggests is to suffer for the loss of those people who will be left behind, to feel guilty if nothing more. Saransh questions whether such an approach makes any real impact to the situation. This, the heated argument with his colleague Mitesh and the urge to impress Jyoti has made him do what the reader has been wanting for a long time: turn around and try to stop the wheel. Later, he tries to understand why he has done so. The moving image of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian kid, face-down on a beach and palms skyward, helps him to understand why he felt so angry and then guilty for violence happening elsewhere, in the least conflicted era of mankind. The frequent philosophical debates between Jyoti and Saransh often reminded me of a Dostoevskian narrative. Though, I would have liked the arc of the complacent Saransh to the rebellious Saransh a bit longer.
In the final chapter of the book, after inevitably failing to stop the machine, when Saransh says how his expertise in eliminating human involvement will land him another good job, we will realise this is how the modern hero will behave in this world: caught up in a vicious cycle like Sisyphus. There can be no better ending for this novel.
I’ll finish this review by congratulating Tanuj Solanki for his courage, his keen observation and really, really good characterization throughout this lucid, highly readable book. A must read.
And I’ll just leave this here:
(Now is a good time to let you know that there will be spoilers from now.)
Saransh, the narrator and the protagonist is working on a project that uses machine learning to predict normal human behaviour which will finally make the humans redundant. The question Saransh will try to answer is whether he should be part of such a project and even if he is, whether there is an alternative where this new tech and people it aims to make redundant can flourish together. The wheel of capitalism will make technologies that will try to minimise human involvement and humans will get involved into more interaction oriented jobs. The intelligent jobs. What happens when intelligence itself can be cultivated artificially? This is a unique situation to mankind and there will be a lot to discuss.
The start of this discussion happens in the novel when Jyoti, whom Saransh has met via Tinder comes to know his work and questions its intentions. Saransh who hails from a small town, who has struggled to reach Mumbai from Muzaffarnagar, knows in his heart the point Jyoti is trying to make (this perhaps is one of the reasons he falls for her), but still argues for the importance of technological advancement and inevitability of leaving some people behind. Jyoti argues there must be a way to do both: make the tech work and still keep the people.
Finally they will realise it would not be possible; the corporate God (the narrator compares the corporate culture to religion, daily commuting in large groups to pilgrimage, the honking to the chants, the grandiosity of temples to the tall glass buildings placed on a higher ground) is ruthless. They realise that a technology that can track your digital activity, learn about you and then predict your personality is all too powerful. That the machine is learning constantly about you to one day be able to replace some of you. This is what makes the title fear-inducing, daunting and cool.
So what Jyoti suggests is to suffer for the loss of those people who will be left behind, to feel guilty if nothing more. Saransh questions whether such an approach makes any real impact to the situation. This, the heated argument with his colleague Mitesh and the urge to impress Jyoti has made him do what the reader has been wanting for a long time: turn around and try to stop the wheel. Later, he tries to understand why he has done so. The moving image of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian kid, face-down on a beach and palms skyward, helps him to understand why he felt so angry and then guilty for violence happening elsewhere, in the least conflicted era of mankind. The frequent philosophical debates between Jyoti and Saransh often reminded me of a Dostoevskian narrative. Though, I would have liked the arc of the complacent Saransh to the rebellious Saransh a bit longer.
In the final chapter of the book, after inevitably failing to stop the machine, when Saransh says how his expertise in eliminating human involvement will land him another good job, we will realise this is how the modern hero will behave in this world: caught up in a vicious cycle like Sisyphus. There can be no better ending for this novel.
I’ll finish this review by congratulating Tanuj Solanki for his courage, his keen observation and really, really good characterization throughout this lucid, highly readable book. A must read.
And I’ll just leave this here:
I think of the one game --the fourth of the five-match series – in which Lee Sedol beat AlphaGo. Somebody should talk about the beauty of that.
February 26, 2025
3.8 stars
February 10, 2021
Only TS can make corporate babble fun to read
January 21, 2021
This novel puts forward the age old question of Man Vs Machine. But what makes this novel so engaging is the content put forward. It deals with real issues that the humans have to deal with very soon.
We need to find the right balance between Humans and Machines.
The Protagonist is just doing his job when suddenly he is made to realize that he has a moral obligation towards Humanity in general.
Its a scary novel for all who work in the IT World. And are making machines who would in the end replace their creators.
We need to find the right balance between Humans and Machines.
The Protagonist is just doing his job when suddenly he is made to realize that he has a moral obligation towards Humanity in general.
Its a scary novel for all who work in the IT World. And are making machines who would in the end replace their creators.
September 13, 2020
THE MACHINE IS LEARNING by Tanuj Solanki, seems to be a textbook for 'Machine Learning'. the latest trend amongst the edutech startups and Youtube advertisements. To kill the excitement of Machine Learning Enthusiasts, this book won't go into the history or textbookish course of the field.
It is, in fact,a breakthrough amongst Indian literature in the social-fiction genre that narrates an interesting man versus machine saga.
The novel is based in the corporate setup of Mumbai where the protagonist, Saransh is a fintech enthusiast working in developing OCR scrutiny bots that will profit on the private insurance giants of India. Initially, the story progresses in a very shallow and dull way. which can be compared to the writing style of an author who writes filmy novels. But as the protagonist meets Juhi over TINDER, the story takes-off to a peak of philosophical narration of ethics versus personal success versus intellectual satisfaction like the works of Plato or Socrates.
The conversation format often changes from Whatsapp chats to boardroom debates to luncheon arguments. And these are very enlightening and the soul of the novel.
The book is a very short and crisp read, the climax is predictive but very satisfying after the journey through which Saransh goes through.
This 250-page journey illuminates and warns us against the tyranny the machines can impose on us and whether or not the machines are learning to affect our lives in a negative way while we are busy pursuing click baits, TRPs, analytics and wealth accumulation at the cost of human lives.
Did not want to reveal any spoilers so there will be another essay on Machine Learning according to the author and other writers on Ethics, as I all see to read and study more on this issue after the book has set my brains pacing and wondering if in reality, the machines are learning.
It is, in fact,a breakthrough amongst Indian literature in the social-fiction genre that narrates an interesting man versus machine saga.
The novel is based in the corporate setup of Mumbai where the protagonist, Saransh is a fintech enthusiast working in developing OCR scrutiny bots that will profit on the private insurance giants of India. Initially, the story progresses in a very shallow and dull way. which can be compared to the writing style of an author who writes filmy novels. But as the protagonist meets Juhi over TINDER, the story takes-off to a peak of philosophical narration of ethics versus personal success versus intellectual satisfaction like the works of Plato or Socrates.
The conversation format often changes from Whatsapp chats to boardroom debates to luncheon arguments. And these are very enlightening and the soul of the novel.
The book is a very short and crisp read, the climax is predictive but very satisfying after the journey through which Saransh goes through.
This 250-page journey illuminates and warns us against the tyranny the machines can impose on us and whether or not the machines are learning to affect our lives in a negative way while we are busy pursuing click baits, TRPs, analytics and wealth accumulation at the cost of human lives.
Did not want to reveal any spoilers so there will be another essay on Machine Learning according to the author and other writers on Ethics, as I all see to read and study more on this issue after the book has set my brains pacing and wondering if in reality, the machines are learning.
May 18, 2023
Work novels, I find, usually tend to be of two kinds: those about the work, and those in which work happens. This book is the former kind, which is both its strength and weakness. The exposition about automation and insurance are actually engrossing, and I learnt quite a bit about the latter from it. The structure of the novel itself does a pretty good job of weaving in how the machine learns: from labour and its management. The ennui and tedium of work, and the ambivalence of the people who perform it, is precisely captured. However, it is also exactly at this attempt at realism that the book falters: specifically, in its attempt to reproduce 'realistic' conversations.
Fiction is about which zones of reality you shade, how the author writes in moments that do the work of narrative. It can feature conversational scripts that colour its narrative, but does not need reproductions of those scripts, with its bland responses and spotty use of colloquialisms. It also does not mean characters can be used merely as narrative voices. This novel suffers on both fronts. The conversations, while sometimes illuminating, were often plain and uninteresting, especially those that weren't entered on the work world of protagonist (?) Saransh Malik. This comes to a head with the one-dimensionality of Jyoti. She seems to exist merely to push Saransh's ethical conundrums, or worse, is existentially cynical. The late-book attempt to add some 'nuance' to the character suffers from utter cliche.
The criticism I have for this book is, honestly, because I was disappointed. The premise, and way that premise expands and evolves throughout the book, is quite smart. It's also rather unique; we need more fiction that creatively and persuasively probes techno-capitalism. The ending is powerful, and one might say realistic, in a compelling way. Solanki clearly knows well the worlds he writes about. I only wish he'd given as much care to his people and their words, and didn't blunt the political position of the book with solipsistic internal monologues.
Fiction is about which zones of reality you shade, how the author writes in moments that do the work of narrative. It can feature conversational scripts that colour its narrative, but does not need reproductions of those scripts, with its bland responses and spotty use of colloquialisms. It also does not mean characters can be used merely as narrative voices. This novel suffers on both fronts. The conversations, while sometimes illuminating, were often plain and uninteresting, especially those that weren't entered on the work world of protagonist (?) Saransh Malik. This comes to a head with the one-dimensionality of Jyoti. She seems to exist merely to push Saransh's ethical conundrums, or worse, is existentially cynical. The late-book attempt to add some 'nuance' to the character suffers from utter cliche.
The criticism I have for this book is, honestly, because I was disappointed. The premise, and way that premise expands and evolves throughout the book, is quite smart. It's also rather unique; we need more fiction that creatively and persuasively probes techno-capitalism. The ending is powerful, and one might say realistic, in a compelling way. Solanki clearly knows well the worlds he writes about. I only wish he'd given as much care to his people and their words, and didn't blunt the political position of the book with solipsistic internal monologues.
September 5, 2020
Globalization and mechanization have changed the lives of people forever. Through a low process, the machines have replaced human beings in different walks of life. We rarely do we know the process behind the transformation.
The Theme
The machine is learning depicts the introduction of AI in the entry-level job of an insurance company. The readers are enlightened with the nitty-gritty of insurance firms through the first-person narration of Saransh. The author has deftly portrayed as to how the customers who approach the firm to surrender the policies are maneuvered into withdrawing the application without stepping on their toes.
The Plot
The first quarter of the book is exclusively reserved for the detailed account of the insurance companies, which in turn makes the book monotonous and gives the impression of a non-fiction book.
Further, the readers are introduced to the personal life of Saransh. He meets Jyoti through a dating App. Their clash in ideologies makes further plot interesting. Jyoti's disapproval about the introduction of new technology takes it to the next level.
Characters
The author has taken care in giving ample space into character development, without explicitly citing the idiosyncrasies. Each character has an individuality and the author has dealt with them without prejudice.
Summary
The book is a brutally honest account of the clandestine affairs of the insurance companies and corporate firms at large. It is recommended to everyone who wants a fictional adaptation of corporate reality.
The Theme
The machine is learning depicts the introduction of AI in the entry-level job of an insurance company. The readers are enlightened with the nitty-gritty of insurance firms through the first-person narration of Saransh. The author has deftly portrayed as to how the customers who approach the firm to surrender the policies are maneuvered into withdrawing the application without stepping on their toes.
The Plot
The first quarter of the book is exclusively reserved for the detailed account of the insurance companies, which in turn makes the book monotonous and gives the impression of a non-fiction book.
Further, the readers are introduced to the personal life of Saransh. He meets Jyoti through a dating App. Their clash in ideologies makes further plot interesting. Jyoti's disapproval about the introduction of new technology takes it to the next level.
Characters
The author has taken care in giving ample space into character development, without explicitly citing the idiosyncrasies. Each character has an individuality and the author has dealt with them without prejudice.
Summary
The book is a brutally honest account of the clandestine affairs of the insurance companies and corporate firms at large. It is recommended to everyone who wants a fictional adaptation of corporate reality.
May 2, 2025
This book is story of 2 contrast personalities met over tinder. Saransh who is work for insurance company as part of the Special Projects Group (SPG). Their current project is top-secret: the development of an Artificial Intelligence system that will leave 552 branch-level employees redundant overnight. Because of site-specific customizations, however, the system needs to collect information from the company’s various branches. which is looking for decommissioning the jobs of LOEs from company by making software decide what type and how much risk should one take while giving insurance and premium.
Jyoti an ex-journalist who is living life on the ledge kind of person but safely, she is working until she met some bad guys in business and she left her job. Now freelancing and free riding on her rich dad money.
Both were contrasting personalities but she is more humane kind, when she was pushed to corner by Saransh colleague Mitesh for her disinterest in there job. She left and by mistake while arguing Saransh disclose the secret of special projects group to one of the Hyderabad LOEs Vijayalaxmi on phone call and this lead to series of events which change his mind set and he was rebuked, abused, praised, for everything the prevail after the leak by various groups of the people.
He later left job and made senior to set him free with reputation or various people fall in category who leaked to various people. But, his was came to light and they did that, this help him save his relationship with Jyoti and moving to Delhi
Jyoti an ex-journalist who is living life on the ledge kind of person but safely, she is working until she met some bad guys in business and she left her job. Now freelancing and free riding on her rich dad money.
Both were contrasting personalities but she is more humane kind, when she was pushed to corner by Saransh colleague Mitesh for her disinterest in there job. She left and by mistake while arguing Saransh disclose the secret of special projects group to one of the Hyderabad LOEs Vijayalaxmi on phone call and this lead to series of events which change his mind set and he was rebuked, abused, praised, for everything the prevail after the leak by various groups of the people.
He later left job and made senior to set him free with reputation or various people fall in category who leaked to various people. But, his was came to light and they did that, this help him save his relationship with Jyoti and moving to Delhi
October 5, 2024
💻🤖 The Machine Is Learning by Tanun Solanki:
💻🤖Book Review:
This book gives a glance into a dystopian future that seems rather bleak. A world where machine learning takes over jobs. Well, this is a reality that Saransh, a corporate employee, is working upon. He is working on a project which will make several employees redundant over night. I liked the book. It was something different and extremely realistic! However, I felt slightly disconnected with the technical and corporate jargon, honestly. But overall it was a good read.
💻🤖 Book Description:-
Saransh works at a life insurance company, as part of the Special Projects Group (SPG). Their current project is top-secret: the development of an Artificial Intelligence system that will leave 552 branch-level employees redundant overnight. Because of site-specific customizations, however, the system needs to collect information from the company’s various branches. Thus begins a cycle in which Saransh travels across the country, interviewing the very people that his machine will replace soon. Meanwhile, his conscientious ex-journalist girlfriend Jyoti repeatedly questions Saransh’s complicity in the impending destruction of hundreds of lives. The Machine is Learning is a novel about twenty-first-century workplaces, love and the impact of technology in all of our lives. It interrogates a world order that accommodates guilt but offers no truly ethical course correction.
💻🤖Book Review:
This book gives a glance into a dystopian future that seems rather bleak. A world where machine learning takes over jobs. Well, this is a reality that Saransh, a corporate employee, is working upon. He is working on a project which will make several employees redundant over night. I liked the book. It was something different and extremely realistic! However, I felt slightly disconnected with the technical and corporate jargon, honestly. But overall it was a good read.
💻🤖 Book Description:-
Saransh works at a life insurance company, as part of the Special Projects Group (SPG). Their current project is top-secret: the development of an Artificial Intelligence system that will leave 552 branch-level employees redundant overnight. Because of site-specific customizations, however, the system needs to collect information from the company’s various branches. Thus begins a cycle in which Saransh travels across the country, interviewing the very people that his machine will replace soon. Meanwhile, his conscientious ex-journalist girlfriend Jyoti repeatedly questions Saransh’s complicity in the impending destruction of hundreds of lives. The Machine is Learning is a novel about twenty-first-century workplaces, love and the impact of technology in all of our lives. It interrogates a world order that accommodates guilt but offers no truly ethical course correction.
October 1, 2020
We all know a Mitesh and a Jyoti in our lives, one urging you to follow the status quo and the other shaking your conscience to break free. It's with this juxtaposition that the story emerges in the backdrop of the new tech revolution that is just on the horizon for our world.
The factual integrity of the story is reasonably strong as is the setting evocative. Tanuj really captures the soul and mundanity of an insurance company and their pursuit for a tech overhaul. These aspects of the story really work in its favor. These make it a fast-paced journey, intriguing you to turn the page.
For me personally what didn't work were some facets of Jyoti as a character. She progresses from a character who shakes your soul in a good way, to someone who is how we stereotypically view people like her. As a reader, I lost solidarity for the causes she stood. The other thing that didn't work for me was Saransh's motivations towards taking the actions. Rather then solidarity for his cause, it felt an awful lot like vindictiveness or immaturity.
That being said, the end of the story was my favorite part. The sheer matter of fact tone and rawness of the end makes you truly reflect on the journey that Saransh takes.
The factual integrity of the story is reasonably strong as is the setting evocative. Tanuj really captures the soul and mundanity of an insurance company and their pursuit for a tech overhaul. These aspects of the story really work in its favor. These make it a fast-paced journey, intriguing you to turn the page.
For me personally what didn't work were some facets of Jyoti as a character. She progresses from a character who shakes your soul in a good way, to someone who is how we stereotypically view people like her. As a reader, I lost solidarity for the causes she stood. The other thing that didn't work for me was Saransh's motivations towards taking the actions. Rather then solidarity for his cause, it felt an awful lot like vindictiveness or immaturity.
That being said, the end of the story was my favorite part. The sheer matter of fact tone and rawness of the end makes you truly reflect on the journey that Saransh takes.
September 4, 2024
Is it AI or is it us?
The machine is learning, published in 2020 and longlisted for @thejcbprize , is a story set in corporate world. It deals with capitalism, corporates and cronies of the system. It brings out the mundane corporate life and the dark reality of cost cutting and automation.
Saransh works at a life insurance company, as part of the Special Projects Group (SPG). Their current project is top-secret: the development of an Artificial Intelligence system that will leave 552 branch-level employees redundant overnight. Because of site-specific customizations, however, the system needs to collect information from the company’s various branches. Thus begins a cycle in which Saransh travels across the country, interviewing the very people that his machine will replace soon. Meanwhile, his conscientious ex-journalist girlfriend Jyoti repeatedly questions Saransh’s complicity in the impending destruction of hundreds of lives.The Machine is Learning is a novel about twenty-first-century workplaces, love and the impact of technology in all of our lives. It interrogates a world order that accommodates guilt but offers no truly ethical course correction.
The book, using the threat of AI, underlines the precarious human nature, the depths we are willing to fall to.
✒️📖
The machine is learning, published in 2020 and longlisted for @thejcbprize , is a story set in corporate world. It deals with capitalism, corporates and cronies of the system. It brings out the mundane corporate life and the dark reality of cost cutting and automation.
Saransh works at a life insurance company, as part of the Special Projects Group (SPG). Their current project is top-secret: the development of an Artificial Intelligence system that will leave 552 branch-level employees redundant overnight. Because of site-specific customizations, however, the system needs to collect information from the company’s various branches. Thus begins a cycle in which Saransh travels across the country, interviewing the very people that his machine will replace soon. Meanwhile, his conscientious ex-journalist girlfriend Jyoti repeatedly questions Saransh’s complicity in the impending destruction of hundreds of lives.The Machine is Learning is a novel about twenty-first-century workplaces, love and the impact of technology in all of our lives. It interrogates a world order that accommodates guilt but offers no truly ethical course correction.
The book, using the threat of AI, underlines the precarious human nature, the depths we are willing to fall to.
✒️📖
July 18, 2023
Though it has been a while since i read a book written by Indian Author, it definitely was a good one. I felt that the writing style to be easy to read. The story is relatable and would pull into the work of Automation and Insurance companies. It raises alot of questions, questions that people more often try to avoid. The impending doom of people losing their jobs and their role replaced by machine. It makes us wonder how long it will be till it's our job, what will we do. How do we look toward a future where we are facing our extinction against our own creation.
October 17, 2020
This is a fine book, but it's not a great book.
+ Promising premise, a story which touches upon many topical themes (AI/ML, ideology, Tinder, the Indian middle class), mostly deft dialogue, a relatable protagonist
- The author writes men much better than he writes women, often relying on archetypes and tropes (*SPOILER ALERT* nice girl falls for decent guy, "fixes" him in two months, and leaves). The plot drags in the middle.
Overall, a nice quick read on a lazy afternoon.
+ Promising premise, a story which touches upon many topical themes (AI/ML, ideology, Tinder, the Indian middle class), mostly deft dialogue, a relatable protagonist
- The author writes men much better than he writes women, often relying on archetypes and tropes (*SPOILER ALERT* nice girl falls for decent guy, "fixes" him in two months, and leaves). The plot drags in the middle.
Overall, a nice quick read on a lazy afternoon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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