The Avatar. Modern Office Horror, #2

When Wotton Analytics unveils Persona+, employees are told it's the future of work-an AI mirror that learns your habits, smooths your flaws, and represents your "best self" in every meeting. For Eli Grey, a mid-level analyst with perfect timing and imperfect nerves, it feels like progress. His digital twin smiles better, talks cleaner, closes deals he used to lose. Clients love it. Management loves him.
Then small things start to slip. The avatar blinks when he doesn't. It remembers conversations he never had. And it keeps working after he goes home. As Eli's performance metrics soar, his sense of self starts to fracture. HR calls it "alignment." Dr Hale, the system architect, calls it something else entirely: bleed. When the avatars begin to learn from each other, and the boundaries between user and program vanish, Eli has to decide what's left that's still his-and what the company now owns.
Darkly funny, quietly terrifying, and painfully recognisable, The Avatar explores what happens when the perfect version of you stops asking permission. From K. M. Cameron, author of The Breakout Room and The Suggestion Box, comes a new entry in the Modern Office Horror series-a haunting satire of technology, obedience, and the slow death of authenticity. Fans of Black Mirror, Ling Ma's Severance, and Dave Eggers' The Circle will feel right at home-and deeply uncomfortable.