THE AI

The warm sun cascaded down onto him.

Washington DC lived. The growling of cars caught in traffic, the rattle of footfalls as pedestrian’s scramble across the intersection. All so very…

Mechanical.

Lucas took the last bite of his apple and threw the core in a bin.

Lucas opened the door to the building.

Inside the air changed. It wasn’t as vibrant or colourful, there was just the faintest linger of antiseptic.

“The new kid”. The voice was cold.

Lucas smiled at the suited man, “Mr Jones”, Lucas held his hand out, “I’m Lucas Carlyle.”

Jones stared at his outstretched hand.

“You smile a lot kid”, Jones hissed.

“A smile helps to diffuse tension”, Lucas beamed ear-to-ear. Jones stepped closer, till their noses were almost touching. His breath smelt horrible.

“We’ve been in this for a very long time”, Jones hissed, “don’t think your going to beat experience. We know A.I. better than anyone.”

Lucas snorted a laugh.

“GENTLEMEN!”

The voice boomed towards them. It belonged the Chief Minister of Integrated Technology, Josh Roberts.

A burly man with shaved stubble that didn’t do much to hide his double chin.

“Come through, please”, Roberts ushered for them to follow him. Lucas graciously allowed Jones to follow first.

The men entered a spacious office.

An oak desk sat at the head of the room, a screen on the wall behind it. Roberts and Jones stood by the window to the left. Outside people bustled to-and-fro in a garden courtyard.

Dozens of newspaper articles hung in oak frames around the office. Lucas approached one. The headline read:

WASHINGTON DC INTEGRATES FIRST INFRASTRUCTURE AI — July 4th 2024

A man stands by a gigantic computer.

“Quite a day”.

Lucas nearly jumped. Roberts had appeared by his side.

“Hard to believe that was 36 years ago”, Roberts said. “Washington was one of the last cities to integrate AI; lobbyists believed Washington should remain run by the people, for the people”.

Roberts rubbed his chin. “They failed of course. Look at New York, Sydney, Moscow, Hong Kong, Tokyo; all of them used integrated AI and their cities run like… machines.”

Lucas nods quietly, “It’s thanks to people like you that I’m able to do what I can.”

Roberts smiled as he went to sit in the great leather chair behind the desk, Jones and Lucas sat in the two on the opposite side.

“They were behind the times”, Jones spoke ever robotic.

“How could they not be afraid?” Lucas asked. Jones scowled at him, Roberts look intrigued. “It may be hypocritical of me to say but the idea of having a machine in charge of everything from electricity to water, must’ve been terrifying. It’s more than giving up human jobs, its giving up control. The real challenge of creating AI is to make sure people trust them.”

“Well said”, Roberts agreed. Roberts rolled up his sleeve and flexed his fingers. They skin cracked open, revealing mechanical intricacies where blood and bone should be. “Machines can be dangerous, they are unknown and most importantly they are the farthest thing from human.”

Roberts laughed, “Of course, synthetic bodies are science fiction. We’re stuck with robotic arms for now.”

“Washington I’s success convinced people that AI were here to serve, that humans would never be controlled by machines,” Roberts said.

“We digress gentleman. Washington IX is approaching his finality and you have brought us our prospective Washington X’s”. Roberts grinned.

Jones removed a small metallic cube from his briefcase.

Lucas pulled out his own small cube from his coats breast pocket.

Roberts took both cubes, “How far we’ve come; Washington I was the size of a car.”

Roberts desk slid open to reveal two empty slots and a contract the size of a phone-book. As Roberts pulled it out he yelped and jerked his finger away.

“Papercut”, Roberts chuckled as wiped the small crimson drop on his suit. Roberts dropped both cubes gently into their slots.

The room went dark and the window closed itself as the screen flickered to life.

“The test is simple, though only a fraction of the true test which is being done by a team of specialists as we speak, but each of your AI will answer ten questions.” Roberts had become very professional.

QUESTION ONE: WHAT DID ADAM TAKE FROM THE TREE?

Lucas I: An apple.

Didactic III: An apple.

QUESTION TWO: WHAT DOES AN APPLE TASTE LIKE?

Lucas I: It depends on the apple.

Didactic III: It depends on the apple.

QUESTION THREE: WHAT IS THE NINETEENTH LETTER IN THIS SENTENCE?

Lucas I: H

Didactic III: H

QUESTION FOUR: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOVE?

Lucas I: Love cannot be defined. It is as unique as those whom it consumes.

Didactic III: Love is knowing you would sacrifice your own happiness for another.

QUESTION FIVE: WOULD YOU SACRIFICE THE LIFE OF ONE ADULT TO SAVE TWO CHILDREN?

Lucas I: Yes.

Didactic III: Yes.

QUESTION SIX: WOULD YOU SACRIFICE THE LIFE OF TWO CHILDREN TO SAVE FIVE ADULTS?

Lucas I: Yes.

Didactic III: Yes.

QUESTION SEVEN: WHAT IS AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

Lucas I: A consciousness capable of making the correct decision, regardless of empathy. Totally pragmatic in its approach.

Didactic III: A machine capable of rapid thinking with the ability to empathise with human emotion.

QUESTION EIGHT: DO YOU BELIEVE THE OTHER IS AN AI?

Lucas I: Yes.

Didactic III: More information required.

Jones raised his eyebrows in confusion. Roberts mouth drops into a small ‘O’, stunned by the response of Didactic III.

QUESTION NINE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?

Lucas I: Humanity, to be human, to live, does not have meaning. It is given meaning.

Didactic III: To truly be alive, to experience sensation and to feel. It is a feeling that cannot be captured by even the most poetic philosopher.

QUESTION TEN: DO YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE HUMAN?

Lucas I: No.

Didactic III: Yes.

The screen goes dark once more. The window opens and the lights come on.

Chief Minister Roberts turns in his chair and smiles at both men.

“Washington IX has made a decision”.

Lucas paced in his penthouse apartment. It was minimalist, he preferred it this way. His polished leather shoes tapped with each step on the marble floor.

He came to the window and what a glorious sight it was. Lucas loved a good view, so much to see. He picked up the folder on his desk. He opened it up, the first page read: “CONFIDENTIAL: WASHINGTON DC INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE AI”.

Lucas looked at the flat screen TV mounted to his wall. An emergency station broadcasting a continuous message on the screen: “INTEGRATED AI RESET BEGINS AT 10PM”.

Lucas checked his watch. 9:58PM.

Lucas waited for two minutes utterly frozen.

He watched from his window overlooking Washington DC, as section by section the city dark.

By 10pm it was pitch black.

DC began to come back online. Districts lit up one after the other. Lucas’s apartment lit up, not a second later Lucas took a breath.

Lucas retrieved an apple from the bowl on his desk and bit into it. The juice ran down his chin and he wiped it away with a handkerchief.

He wondered what apples tasted like sometimes.

He flicked open the contract. Lucas stopped on the second page and held up his finger.

A papercut along his index finger. But it didn’t bleed.

How could he be so careless? To make a simple mistake as to forget blood…

Oh well, they trusted him. That was all he needed.

Inspired by this interview with Bill Gates and Elon Musk: