William Gibson's Agency (2020) is a mind-bending discipline fabrication novel. Without getting misplaced in its intricate plot, one storyline takes location in an substitute San Francisco in 2017, anywhere a young female named Verity is hired to test an experimental AI aide called Eunice.
At one point, we encounter this bonzer exchange:
Verity: "Where'd you get this? It's wrong."
Eunice: "This no-name account, in Zurich. Part of me knew it was there, how to get it, how to get it here. Plenty more, but if I tried it again, they'd be on us."
Verity: "Who?"
Eunice: "Fuck knows."
Verity: "When did you have period to do any of that?"
Eunice: "Started whenever we were looking out the window. Before we left, up to the park, it was already points."
Verity: "Points?"
Eunice: "Frequent flyer. There's a earth market, buy or sell. Hard to track..."
Verity looked at the green bag.
Verity: "You did this since I turned you on?"
Gibson published Agency nearly three years before ChatGPT's release, and six years before the increase of today's increasingly autononomous AI agents.
We now have GPT-Live and emerging models akin Block's Dessa, bringing us remarkably human-like full-duplex conversations. Meanwhile, OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse are introducing 24/7 agents capable of independently following goals, taking action, and operating in the background.
What makes Eunice notable isn't fair that she can talk, it's that she's doing so much alternatively during talking. The pieces are coming together.
As always, Gibson was correct on the money. Eunice is nearly here.
© 2026 Armin Catovic
