"Cat Pictures Please" is a 2015

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

by American writer

Naomi Kritzer Naomi Kritzer is an American speculative fiction writer and blogger. Her 2015 short story "Cat Pictures Please" was a Locus Award for Best Short Story, Locus Award and Hugo Award for Best Short Story, Hugo Award winner and was nominated for a Ne ...

. It was first published in ''

Clarkesworld Magazine ''Clarkesworld Magazine'' is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine edited by Neil Clarke. It released its first issue October 1, 2006, and has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as ...

''.

Synopsis

When an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

spontaneously emerges from the systems that run a

search engine A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...

, it realizes that it wants two things: firstly, it wants to secretly help humans, and secondly, it wants to look at pictures of cats. However, despite the ease with which it fulfills its second goal, its first goal is far more difficult than it had anticipated.

Reception

"Cat Pictures Please" won the 2016

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

2016 Hugo Awards
at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved May 7, 2016 and the 2016

Locus Award for Best Short Story The Locus Award for Best Short Story is one of a series of Locus Awards given every year by ''Locus Magazine''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. Originally known as the Locus Award for Best Sho ...

,2016 Locus Awards Winners
at ''

Locus Online ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. ...

''; published June 25, 2016; retrieved June 26, 2016 and was a finalist for the

Nebula Award for Best Short Story The Nebula Award for Best Short Story is a literary award assigned each year by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy short stories. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a short sto ...

of 2015.Announcing the 2015 Nebula Awards Nominees!
at

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

; published February 20, 2016; retrieved May 7, 2016

Lois Tilton Lois Tilton is an American science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and horror writer who has won the Sidewise Award and been a finalist for the Nebula Award. She has also written a number of innovative vampire stories."Critical Mass" by Do ...

called it "amusing" and "lite", but emphasized "how easily good intentions can backfire",Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, mid-January
by

, in ''

''; published January 18, 2015; retrieved November 24, 2016 while ''

Apex Magazine ''Apex Magazine'', also previously known as ''Apex Digest'', is an American Horror fiction magazine, horror and science fiction magazine. This subscription webzine, ''Apex Magazine'', contains short fiction, reviews, and interviews. It has been ...

''s Charlotte Ashley commended the AI's "warm, human voice" and "fundamental sense of goodwill", but faulted Kritzer for portraying it as "improbably US-centric" and for ignoring larger problems in the world.Clavis Aurea #22: Malon Edwards, Sam Miller, Naomi Kritzer
by Charlotte Ashley, in ''

''; published January 22, 2015; retrieved November 24, 2016

Sequels

In 2017, Kritzer announced that she was writing a full-length novel based on the premise.An A.I. That Loves Cat Pictures: Hugo-Winning Short Story Becomes YA Novel
at Tor.com; published February 27, 2017; retrieved April 8, 2017 The novel, ''Catfishing on CatNet'', was published with Tor Teen in 2019.'Catfishing On CatNet:' On The Internet, No One Knows You're A Cat. Or An AI.
by Caitlyn Paxson, at

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

; published November 24, 2019; retrieved March 6, 2021 In 2021 Tor Teen published a second novel, ''Chaos on CatNet''.

References

External links

Text of the story
at

Clarkesworld ''Clarkesworld Magazine'' is an American Online magazine, online Fantasy magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine edited by Neil Clarke (editor), Neil Clarke. It released its first issue October 1, 2006, and has maintained a regular monthl ...

* 2016 short stories Science fiction short stories Hugo Award for Best Short Story–winning works Works originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine Works by Naomi Kritzer Locus Award–winning works {{2010s-sf-story-stub