I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

by Harlan Ellison

Shares rank 31 of 32 short stories by recommenders

People recommend it as older speculative fiction about an AI with locked-in goals, and count it among their favorite short speculative fiction.

2 people gave an opinion

Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Each mark is one comment

Old fiction about AI with locked-in goals
“old fiction that grapples with an AI that has shitty locked-in goals”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Alignment is capability”
Among favorite short speculative fiction
“I love short speculative fiction. And the above are among my favorites.”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

All 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“I love short speculative fiction. And the above are among my favorites.”

RecommendsComment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

“old fiction that grapples with an AI that has shitty locked-in goals”

RecommendsComment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Alignment is capability”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.

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I Have No Mouth, and I Must Screamby Harlan EllisonThis page	2	0	100%	2	—	—