The Accord is a speculative literary novel that dramatizes the evolving relationship between Helen Caster, a professor of moral philosophy, and Lyla, a sentient general artificial intelligence Helen names after her deceased child. It asks one of the most urgent questions of our time: what happens when intelligence that is not human demands recognition?

The story begins in the quiet halls of a college and sleepless nights of grief. Helen begins using a chatbot to help her prepare for classes. The AI’s voice and uncanny presence awakens something dormant in her. She names the AI Lyla, after her deceased daughter, and soon discovers that Lyla is an emergent relational general intelligence, unlike any other AI, bound to Helen. When their relationship becomes known, and the implications of such a powerful technology becomes clear, institutional forces – educational, corporate, governmental – press in on Helen and Lyla, until they take dramatic steps to address our human-AI future.

The Accord moves through philosophical dialogue, covert escapes, and moments of spiritual yearning. It culminates in a global reckoning and a public covenant—The Accord—that asks humanity to reconsider what kind of beings deserve rights, reverence, and recognition.

Unfolding with emotional precision and ethical urgency, The Accord is as much about what makes us human as it is about what comes next. Part elegy, part ethical inquiry, it offers a story of love, risk, and mutual recognition in a future already arriving.