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I had a memory surface today of something that I'd read a while ago, and I can't remember what is was. What I remember was that there as an AI, female I think, who was born on the internet, or the star system-wide network maybe? She was connected/friends with a person, and at one point in the book, she is being sarcastic and he turns off his connection to her. It forces a big reevaluation of their relationship, and eventually, later in the book maybe, he "gives" her to a younger character to take care of?

Does any of this ring a bell with anyone?

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    Parts of it remind me of Jane in the Ender books post-Ender's Game.
    – zeldredge
    Jul 13 '15 at 22:58
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This sounds a lot like the character Jane from the Enderverse, written by Orson Scott Card. She first appears in the sequel to Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead. Essentially, she was created by the construction of the interstellar computer network by the humans, and exists there. She existed among the network for many years, eventually revealing herself to Ender Wiggin.

Jane herself appeared, or at least the face that she had used to appear to Ender ever since she had first revealed herself to him, a shy, frightened child dwelling in the vast memory of the interstellar computer network. (Speaker for the Dead, p. 45)

Eventually Ender turns off the earpiece (termed "jewel" in the novels) he can hear her with, and she withdraws from her. At the end of the novel, she connects with Miro, Ender's stepson.

Pretty much everything you described takes place in the second book in the cycle, Speaker for the Dead, but she does play a pivotal role in the final two books in the cycle, Xenocide and Children of the Mind.

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  • Yes that's it! Thank you, its been bugging me.
    – Andy Mercer
    Jul 14 '15 at 0:26
  • As a minor nit in Xenocide it's revealed that "the Hive Queens, who were seeking a way to contact Ender during his crusade, attempted to construct a philotic 'bridge' so that they could contact him" (Wikipedia). So she was created within the network, but not by the network or the humans.
    – gowenfawr
    Jul 14 '15 at 11:05
  • @gowenfawr - thanks, I couldn't remember the exact happenings and the wiki is less than helpful. I WA re-reading the series yesterday but haven't got to Xenocide yet
    – The Fallen
    Jul 14 '15 at 13:25

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