Abstract

The impact of AI technology on healthcare is an evolving issue in the medical humanities. Eric Topol, in Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again, observes that innovative technology gives medical professionals a framework through which they can nurture the “human bond,” allowing them to practice what he calls “deep medicine.” In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun, the Nobel laureate envisions a world in which AI can work miracles. I argue that the AI protagonist’s empathetic interaction with humans and her endeavors in searching for a cure for her owner/friend performs a special version of deep medicine. The android, with her belief in faith, hope, love and her unwavering loyalty, stands in contrast to the lonely, despairing, and fickle  human characters, offering to nourish and heal the dystopic and divided fictional universe that can very well be our future.

Keywords: AI, medical humanities, deep medicine, Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun