Bots is the story of cyberspace's first indigenous species. These bots - mere strings of code - are now poised to change our lives. They are as close to us as the nearest computer. They live autonomously on the Net as stand-ins for our drives and desires. They collect things for us. They correct things for us. They do what we want them to do. They do what we don't want them to do.

Andrew Leonard recounts the saga of these software robots in all its quirkiness: from the trials and tribulations of artificial intelligence to the hilarious lifestyles of the first bots and the havoc they set in motion.