"Hum," a new novel by Helen Phillips, addresses this question precisely.

The premise: A woman who's not well off financially after losing her job signs up for a study in which an advanced robot surgically alters her face ever so minimally so as to use her as a test case for the company's state-of-the-art/bleeding edge (sorry) facial recognition software.

She signed up because having become unemployed with no prospect of future employment, her husband's job as a gig-handyman which is mostly pest control and pays terribly, and two young children, she fears being evicted from their apartment.

The study offers a huge payment in advance, enough for their family to live in comfort for 10 months without any other income source.

One problem soon becomes apparent: in altering her appearance ever so slightly, her family and everyone she knows are taken aback: she look just like she used to, but somehow not quite: the study is intended to see how surveillance video handles faces in the uncanny valley — by creating them.

NO — I have not ruined the book if you're thinking about reading it: my introduction above happens early on, following which the story explodes in unexpected, compelling directions.

This book is beautifully written: it's sci-fi, the sixth book by a highly regarded and awarded novelist.

Read the first 19 pages (of 244) here: https://www.amazon.com/Hum-Novel-Helen-Phillips/dp/166800883...