Dr. Curtis Runstedler, an associated IRIS researcher, has published a new book chapter in the edited anthology Dis/Trusting the Digital World in Imaginative Literature, published by Edinburgh University Press (edited by Adam Kelly and Katerina Pavlidi, May 2026). Runstedler's chapter investigates the role of AI compliance in literary narratives, citing Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun as a starting point to explore the role of trust in human-AI interactions. Focusing upon Klara, the "Artificial Friend's" first-person narration, Runstedler argues that the novel interrogates the subservience and compliance of robots. He further recognizes how extreme robot compliance can reinforce broader patterns of anthropocentrism and emphasizes the importance of storytelling and narratives for discussing AI issues. Runstedler's research stems from his independent research fellowship with IRIS, which examined how issues of trust and distrust are negotiated in contemporary AI narratives in Anglophone fiction. Runstedler presented an earlier version of this paper at the conference "Trusting and Distrusting the Digital World in Imaginative Literature" at UCD Dublin in 2023 (also funded by IRIS), which ultimately resulted in the current publication.
