“STET” is a 2018 short story by Sarah Gailey. Through the use layout and interactivity, the story provides a brief glimpse into the mourning process through the frame of a portion of an academic paper. The paper itself remains objective and to the point, discussing conscience in the (near) AIs that power autonomous vehicles and the morality that goes into their choices. The meat of the story, however, takes place in the footnotes and editorial comments. Scattered liberally throughout, the footnotes begin by illuminating the body text, but slowly begin to incorporate more personal aspects, describing how an autonomous car struck and killed the author’s daughter in an attempt to avoid an endangered species of woodpecker, which was deemed of greater importance than the child. Toward the end, the footnotes question the guilt of the AIs powering these vehicles (e.g: manslaughter versus homicide).
The footnotes are peppered with editorial comments calling into question the objectivity of the text, with the editor growing increasingly concerned for the well-being of the author. Although the author occasionally expands on the editorial comments (at one point even calling into question the short duration of bereavement leave that she was provided), all are marked STET, indicating that there is to be no change made.