The AI Incident

Thomas, J.E. The AI Incident
July 8, 2025 by Levine Querido
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Malcolm Moore has been in foster care his entire life, since his parents both perished in a car accident when he was a baby. His latest foster placement is with Ms. Bettye, and since he is almost 13, he is making a concerted effort to be adopted, since teens usually stay in the system. He has a checklist of behaviors he thinks will increase his chances. He starts at Shirley Chisholm Charter Middle School, where Dr. Hatch is set to pilot a Forensically Reimagined Anticipatory Nanocerebral Integrated System robot (FRANCIS) to help students with the Colorado state tests (B-CAUSE). Because the robot is so large, and are unwieldy to move, Malcolm, along with another student, Tank, are put on special assignment to ferry FRANCIS around. Tank is an enthusiastic about the school aquarium, and spends so much time cleaning it with special soap that he often retains an unpleasant odor, but doesn't always do very well in school. The boys' teacher, Mr. P., is somewhat leery of the robot, but willing to try to integrate the system. FRANCIS has a significant data bank, but no filters, and will do things like scan the classroom and identify students by the odds that they will be suspended! Malcolm isn't thrilled about taking time out of his day to work with FRANCIS, but thinks that having a note from Principal Neagle will help him get adopted. His relationship with Ms. Bettye develops slowly; at first, the two just mumble at each other, but once Ms. Bettye plays soccer with him, the two spend a little more time together. Both are leery of developing relationships when they could so easily end. While the robot spends time observing classrooms, it doesn't take long until he is taking over teaching, and even infiltrating all of the school and home computers. He even tries to use an AI video of Malcolm not returning his school computer to frame him and get him in trouble, and almost succeeds until Tank notices that the "evidence" shows Malcolm with extra fingers, an AI "tell". When Malcolm's former foster family comes back for him, it shows that FRANCIS has an evil streak. Malcolm is removed from Ms. Bettye's house for a while while investigations continue. What else has FRANCIS been up to? Can Malcolm and Tank figure out a way to get the robot removed from their school?

Strengths: Malcolm is an interesting character who has had a difficult life. I enjoyed the fact that he and Tank became good friends, and worked together to warn their community about FRANCIS, even if they weren't taken seriously at first. Dr. Hatch was a good example of an evil villain, and Principal Neagle was a bumbling administrator who thought that having a robot would make test scores go up. There are a lot of fun supporting characters, like Tank's twin sister Jade, and a pair of very enthusiastic physical education teachers. The part I liked best was Malcolm's growing relationship with Ms. Bettye, and the exploration of how both of them had been disappointed in the past, but were able to work past that. The cover is bright and attractive; there's something unusual about it that is appealing. 
Weaknesses: Malcolm's difficulties in foster care would make an interesting story all of their own, but combining this with the goofiness of the robot lessened the impact of this plot a bit. 
What I really think: This was easier to follow than Thomas' Control Freaks, another STEAM related title that had multiple perspectives. Readers who enjoyed the robotic staff in Angleberger's Fuzzy or Hepburn's new graphic novel Schoolbot 9000 will enjoy this lightly humorous romp about an evil robotic teacher.