2026 Runners-Up II: Human in every way that counts?

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Human in every way that counts?

by Charley Dobson

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Sierra Greer’s Annie Bot is a contemporary novel which not only considers the future of romance in the face of rising accessibility of artificial intelligence but also, acts as an allegory against the fetishisation of control over the female body. “Does he treat you like a servant? Like a machine? Or more like a partner?”

The story follows Annie, an artificial girlfriend and Doug, her human owner. As Annie adapts to Doug’s desires of having a ‘normal’ wife, she becomes increasingly sentient and conflicted over the situation of her autonomy.

Greer positions the reader as an outsider through an omniscient narrative, but limits our perspective to be the same as ‘Annie Bot’: like the title character, the reader is restricted to the couple’s apartment for the vast bulk of the novel. Beyond fleeting dialect revealing Doug’s life beyond the four walls of their home and the few ‘wanders’ that Annie is permitted into the external world, the audience is kept guessing as to what life Doug might lead. In the narrative, Annie is a constant pawn to Doug’s every whim, on the page she is eternally paraded to please the reader’s curiosity.

This omniscient perspective mirrors a ‘surveillance state’ and is perhaps employed by Greer intentionally to comment upon the falseness of AI relationships. Countless headlines pollute social media platforms depicting impressionable people falling in love with chat bots. These ‘AI partners’ are really nothing more than programmes aiming to exploit user-data. Still, ‘AI’ girlfriends’ are recruiting countless youngsters online simply by wearing the mask of a pretty girl.

Greer’s restricted narrative defies initial expectations of boredom- her simple, conversational tone is reminiscent of stereotypical contributions to the romance genre, as we follow Annie throughout her daily routine of: cooking, cleaning, working out and sex. Expertly, whilst Greer manages to deter the reader away from restlessness, the firm hand of monotony is still rife within the pages, as much of the novel is cyclical, following Annie’s repeated daily motions. Greer utilises the constant reiteration of sameness in Annie’s existence to mystify the concealed lifestyle of Doug. His life may be just as dull but, as a reader, our uncertainty of his routine makes it seem desirable and exciting. We always want what we can’t have.

Alison Fren, professor of media, arts and culture explores ‘technofetishism’, an erotic attraction to artificial partners. She proposes that this attraction stems not wholly from desire for typical robotic features but more from a lust for control. Whilst such theory can certainly be applied to ‘Annie Bot’, public reception of the novel may also be called into question under this logic. Upon completion of my first read of Greer’s tale I was partly saddened but most baffled by popular online reviews: many of which praised the novel, not for it’s criticism of artificial intelligence or patriarchal power imbalances but, for it’s engaging erotica. I wanted to reach through the screens of such commentors and force a critical lens against their nose, before having them reconsider the cautionary messaging in the story. Arguably however, Greer’s decision to compulsively portray acts of intimacy between Annie and Doug, is a deliberate choice to illustrate society’s acceptance of inadequate consent. She accepts the perversions of her readers and uses our gross curiosity to critique ignorance to female suffering in the face of lustful interest.

Beyond a fetish for control, Professor R.L Rutsky suggests that technological fetishisation ‘is one way to preserve the hierarchical class structure’. In structuring her writing around such technofetishism, Greer has employed an expert narrative tone which serves the reader heavy questions, on the morality of AI, on a platter of accessible language and comprehensible pace. Her writing is aptly subtle but her intentions, once digested, are not. I can’t help but equate the pre-programmed emotions grappled with in Annie Bot to the ‘Two Minutes Hate’ in Nineteen Eighty-Four: Greer emphasises the role of emotional control within ownership of women, human or not.

Almost ironically, Annie Bot gives a voice to countless real women around the globe who too are confined to regimental and robotic conditions of their exploitative “relationships”.

Is she still your dream girl?

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Annie Bot by Sierra Greer (Borough Press, ISBN13: 9780008584603) 

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Intended target audience: magazine audience such as Tribune.

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Critical Reflection

To comment on the influence of George Orwell on my arts review, I must start with Orwell’s influence on my writing as a whole. As with many, my introduction to Orwell came about during assigned readings of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm however, my appreciation of Orwell was birthed from my first reading of Down and Out in Paris in London. I consider this work perhaps the most influential text upon my development as a writer, as I believe that it highlights the lengths of Orwell’s talent: heart wrenching depictions of poverty balanced against a sharp wit and relatable humorous tone, social statistics and recorded encounters written with enough zest to challenge the imagination of most fictious pieces.

Orwell’s non-fiction shapes my writing by driving me to present investigative or informational pieces as articles which can still engage and excite even the most casual of readers. To reference this submitted review explicitly, I was inspired by the ease at which Orwell is able to summarise a plot, draw comparisons to other texts and comment on it’s consequences to the social climate within his own literary reviews (for example, ‘Freedom and Happiness’, a review of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin).

Of course, it would be redundant to attempt to draw concrete similarities between my own work and that of Orwell as all writing is naturally at the mercy of it’s creators unique narrative and lived experience however, one objective similarity which evidences the influence of Orwell upon my own writing is the perseverance at which he undertook his practice. Writing, even at the best of times, is no easy feat, but having read of Orwell’s own dedication to his craft and calling, I have been encouraged to continue with my passion of writing.

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‘Human in every way that counts?’ by Charley Dobson is the Runner-Up in the Review Category of the 2026 Orwell Society/NUJ Young Journalists Awards. Charley Dobson is a member of the editorial team for Newcastle University’s student newspaper The Courier, while her writings have featured in independent magazines such as Radge.

This post is the fourth of a series of the winners and runners-up in 2026

All photography thanks to Tiger Ant Productions