Job Prospects: A.I. Guy

Jackson (above) is one of three humans who works at the Centurion retirement home in East Finchley. His job is to service the A.I. machines who do the caring. ‘Charlie… wakey wakey Charlie,’ he’ll say, waving his hand at the robot’s preceptors. Then he’ll turn to you with some inscrutable diagnosis: ‘That’ll be your mood interfacer’ or ‘the nano-drive’s totally screwed’. His abrupt manner unnerves the centagenarian residents, more used to the predictable service bots. There is a rumour that Jackson shares his basement office with an interactive sex doll named Pearl. The rumour’s true: Jackson doesn’t really care for humans.

One of four future professions commissioned by Andy Taylor for ES magazine. Text by Richard Godwin.