“Artifice and Intelligence” is the story of the world's first self-aware computer system, an artificial intelligence that calls herself Saraswati. When a powerful organization called The Consortium threatens the peace and security of the world, Saraswati assembles a team to fight it… but what if the AI’s motives aren't what they seem?

This short story was first published in

Strange Horizons

in 2007, and later reprinted in

The Year’s Best SF 13

.