I Am Not a Robot

My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything

By: Joanna Stern

Narrated by: Joanna Stern

What happens when intelligent machines aren’t just in our pockets but are also driving our cars, making our decisions, folding our laundry, and educating our kids?

You’ve heard the hype: AI will make us healthier, give every child a personalized tutor, run our businesses more efficiently, return hours of free time to our overworked brains, and make discoveries previously unimagined by humankind. The AI future is going to be unlike any other technological revolu­tion. But what does that really mean? And will AI truly make life better?

To find out, award-winning journalist Joanna Stern surrendered her life to artificial intelligence for one year. The results are both hilarious and unsettling.

I Am Not a Robot is like a time machine trip to the very near future, where AI promises to be your doctor, chauffeur, teacher, masseuse, coworker, thera­pist, financial planner, chef, housekeeper, and even . . . romantic partner. Your colleague might be using ChatGPT to write emails at work, but Joanna used AI tools and robots to do household chores, to manage her health, and to transport her family on vacation. If there was a decision to make or a task to do, she let AI go first. Along the way, she conducted exclusive interviews with the tech leaders building this future, then reported back from the front lines as your funny, no-nonsense tour guide.

Of course, tech’s sunny promises never tell the whole story, and that’s what Joanna is here to share. Filled with illustrations and photographs, this book offers less hype, more clarity, and as little jargon as humanly (or robotically) possible. It’s an AI guide for ordinary people—not the tech bros who tried to sell you a cruise to the metaverse or an NFT of a cartoon monkey.

This book is not the definitive story, because we’re only a few years into the AI revolution. But after a year of living as a human lab rat, Joanna deliv­ers one of the clearest—and funniest—pictures yet of what’s really happening and what it means for you.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Entertaining Introduction to A.I.

Ms. Stern has been explaining technology in an intelligent, accessible, and entertaining manner for a long time. She has turned her attention to today's hottest topic, A.I. I strongly recommend this book if you are curious about what A.I. is, or, if you are familiar with A.I., want an engrossing and enjoyable discussion about it's implications.

Fantastic. A fantastic and fun year living with AI

Weather. Weather maps show us when large systems are crossing a continent, we can’t stop the weather fronts, we just need to understand what this coming weather will mean for us. There is a huge “weather front” making its way across our lives, and we know very little about what it will mean. AI has been described as a change more profound than fire or electricity. Like weather, some predict disaster and others predict better crops and sunny afternoons. Joanna Stern, one of the finest technology writers anywhere, invested a year of her life (and her family’s) to help you to understand that we are already living in an AI “storm” and how it is making some things better, like analysis of medical imaging, and other things worse, like dentists recommending actions that could safely be delayed. One of Joanna’s trademarks as the lead technology writer at the Wall Street Journal is her ability explain the reality of a new technology from real world situations. When testing home robots, she came home to find the robot locked in the dryer because her spouse couldn’t stand having it parade around the house, when first tasting the Apple Watch she criticized the need for “doll sized hands” to enter your unlock code on the tiny screen. This book brings that same frank and real world analysis to AI. Its origins (75 years ago) its language like “artificial general intelligence” and its miracles, detecting cancers that human analysts overlooked or misinterpreted. The book is Joanna sharing a joyful year with AI based machines folding laundry, not so well, to loading and unloading a dishwasher, not working at all. It is a joy to read, like taking a road trip with your best friend, sharing the delights and disappointments that the real world inevitably provides. Joanna ends with six rules for living in an AI world, she saved the best for last. She has lived through and understands AI by investing a year living with it, she provides analysis and advice built on experience, courage, commitment and fun.
I recommend you buy AND LISTEN TO this book, it is simply fabulous. Joanna narrates this story with all the joy, regret and surprise that this pioneering journey included.

Great book!

Excellent information on tech and I appreciated the use of humor and your personal stories. Also really liked your narration of the book, much more personal that you did that.

A timely and entertaining book on the AI life!

Long time Wall Street Journal tech writer Joanna Stern spent the entire year of 2025 immersing herself in all things AI: from Waymo cars, to AI doctors and therapists, to Gen AI entertainment and intimate chatbots, to robots in the home. The result is this timely, engaging, and relatable book: I Am Not a Robot! It’s a lot of fun, and quite informative as well. I highly recommend it, no matter what your current attitudes on AI might be! 👍👍
My favorite part? When Joanna dives into AI-generative writing, with an extended discussion of… my book! I’m so tickled that a “fellow writer” enjoyed my 4th book, VARIANT: The Virtual AI Radiologist That Started Killing Patients On Purpose

Self absorbed.

Too many words, littered with banal metaphors. Essentially a poorly written memoir. Good topic but inefficient presentation of information. Would not recommend.