Calum studied philosophy at Oxford University, where he discovered that the science fiction he had been reading since early boyhood is actually philosophy in fancy dress.

He published "Surviving AI", a non-fiction review of the promise and peril of artificial intelligence in September 2015. Previously, he published "Pandora's Brain", a novel about the first conscious machine.

He is a regular speaker on artificial intelligence and related technologies, and runs a blog on the subject at www.pandoras-brain.com.

He is also the co-author of The Internet Startup Bible, a business best-seller published by Random House in 2000.

Prior to writing Pandora's Brain, Calum had a 30-year career in business, in which he was a marketer, a strategy consultant and a CEO.

He lives in the UK and Spain with his partner, a director of a design school, and their son.