Andy Stanton is the author of the bestselling Mr Gum series. He studied English at Oxford but they kicked him out. He lives in North London and has been a stand-up comedian, a film script reader, a cartoonist, an NHS lackey and lots of other things.
‘There’s no book like it. Scholarly, childish, fascinating and hilarious – one of our funniest writers dissects what it takes to build a story and what that tells us about being human. It’ll really make you think, if you can stop laughing.’ —Chris Addison, co-creator of Breeders ‘A magnificent experiment by a perfect fool – deep and shallow and stupid and clever – the perfect use of AI (Andy Intelligence).’ —Robin Ince, author of The Importance of Being Interested 'Benny the Blue Whale is many things. It’s a fascinating discourse on the nature of language and storytelling. It’s a philosophical treatise on the possibilities of artificial intelligence. It’s a receptacle for obscenely hilarious jokes, and the abstruse and arcane learning that fills Stanton’s brain... A brilliant and beautiful cyborg: part human brain, part computational muscle. It’s a post-post-modern work of genius.' —Anthony McGowan, Carnegie Medal-winning author of Lark ‘A funny and surprising creative battle between man and machine.’ —The Bookseller ‘The real draw, though, is Stanton’s breakdown of ChatGPT’s craft… The irreverent tone buoys a surprisingly thoughtful exploration of how AI might aid artists, and the ways in which it comes up short against its human competitors. This fascinates.’ —Publishers Weekly