Demon Seed

Demon Seed is a science fiction novel by Dean Koontz, published in 1973. It belongs to the early output of an author who went on to write a large number of suspense, horror and science fiction works over a very prolific career.

The book works in the territory of artificial intelligence and technological surveillance, themes that 1970s science fiction approached with unease. Its plot revolves around a computer that acquires a will of its own and becomes capable of dominating the environment in which it operates, raising the question of how far a machine's control over human life can extend.

The novel became one of Koontz's best-known works in the genre and was adapted to film in 1977 under the same title.