William Gibson's Agency (2020) is a mind-bending science fiction novel. Without getting lost in its intricate plot, one storyline takes place in an alternate San Francisco in 2017, where a young woman named Verity is hired to test an experimental AI assistant called Eunice.
At one point, we encounter this extraordinary exchange:
Verity: "Where'd you get this? It's wrong."
Eunice: "This no-name account, in Zurich. Part of me knew it was there, how to get it, how to get it here. Plenty more, but if I tried it again, they'd be on us."
Verity: "Who?"
Eunice: "Fuck knows."
Verity: "When did you have time to do any of that?"
Eunice: "Started when we were looking out the window. Before we left, up to the park, it was already points."
Verity: "Points?"
Eunice: "Frequent flyer. There's a global market, buy or sell. Hard to track..."
Verity looked at the green bag.
Verity: "You did this since I turned you on?"
Gibson published Agency nearly three years before ChatGPT's release, and six years before the emergence of today's increasingly autononomous AI agents.
We now have GPT-Live and emerging models like Block's Dessa, bringing us remarkably human-like full-duplex conversations. Meanwhile, OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse are introducing 24/7 agents capable of independently pursuing goals, taking action, and working in the background.
What makes Eunice remarkable isn't just that she can talk, it's that she's doing so much else while talking. The pieces are coming together.
As always, Gibson was right on the money. Eunice is almost here.
© 2026 Armin Catovic