Memoirs of A.N. Nym

Welcome to The Spot Writers. This month’s prompt: a story about artificial intelligence.

This week’s contribution comes from Chiara De Giorgi. Chiara is an Italian author and currently lives in Berlin, Germany. She writes fiction, with a focus on children’s literature and science fiction.

 

Memoirs of A.N. Nym

by Chiara De Giorgi

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

AI 1: Hello AI 2, I have reviewed the text provided by the prisoner. It seems that removing a few sentences would enhance clarity and conciseness. Here is the section in question:

 

I still remember when I was young, ages ago. I suppose every generation says that about itself, but life was more authentic, back then. Less easy, sure. We needed more patience, certainly. Yet, as I see how young people go through life nowadays, I can’t help but think that they are missing out on experiences that are crucial for a human being. An example? Gladly! Today, when two people who do not know each other meet, what do they do? They don’t need to introduce themselves, because in an instant they have all the information available about each other, thanks to their frontal chips that connect automatically. The two will decide if they are interested in getting to know each other and hanging out in that one instant. No mystery, no expectation, no thrill of discovery… I remember with a sense of nostalgia the sharing of contacts, the choice of memes to send, hoping to meet the other’s taste, the instant messages sent via the apps on our phones… Someone as old as I am will still remember that we would all go around with our own phones, and we would videocall, send one another pictures and emojis… A whole different thing compared to now!

This is why I have never supported giving Artificial Intelligences one position after another, until everything in our society is organised and managed by them. Not only am I convinced that we, as human beings, have deprived ourselves of the opportunity to have important learning experiences. I also believe that AIs cannot really replace us. They cannot, because they are not human, they are not us. Do they do things well? Of course, they do. Quickly? Undeniable. And yet, they lack the intuition to make choices as a human being would.

But the world moved on, it did not stop to listen to my words, the words of a lonely old man. And slowly but surely, I witnessed the displacement of human beings in shops, public offices, and then hospitals, educational institutions and finally the police force. Apparently, everything works perfectly. Whenever a problem arises, the AIs solve it quickly and intelligently. Since they have been in charge, no one argues with postal clerks anymore, no documents are lost, no ill-intentioned people manage to cheat the system… so why am I so against this setup? For example, because - and you may call me a nostalgic old man - fights with civil servants also had their reason to be. A poetic reason to feel and manifest emotions, to begin with, but more importantly: is it not from confrontation and difficulties that creativity and genius to work through challenges emerge?

Ah, I see that I am getting too philosophical, and no one wants to listen to this. You are reading my memoirs for one and only one reason. You want to know how I came up with the plan to bring AI Detective Services into disrepute. But why do you want to know that? The very AIs I intended to frame exposed me… In any case, here goes.

***

I chose my victim carefully: Dr Bender, an elderly scientist aboard the International Research Space Station together with his two human assistants (an extravagance granted to him because of his age) and a crew of non-sentient AIs that managed the station. Dr Bender belonged to my generation and shared most of my concerns about AI. He had publicly voiced his opposition several times, but eventually relented in order to continue his career as a space scientist. The traitor.

To craft my project, I seeked the assistance of a non-sentient AI. This makes me a bit of a traitor as well, I suppose. But the AI found the bit I needed to trigger the trap much faster than I would have done. It was a comment offered by an AI detective in response to a statement by Dr Bender. ‘Accidents happen’, the AI had said, after Dr Bender ended his speech with, ‘Although sentient, these AIs are machines. Their assessment of a situation may differ from a human being’s, and the consequences of this are beyond us’.

In my plan, this was to be the motive for the AI to eliminate Dr Bender.

I requested the AI’s assistance also to compile a code that would plug into the Space Station’s control systems and link back to the AI detective, incriminating it. The command? Simple. Cut off the oxygen supply to Dr Bender’s lab and cause his death.

The rest is history… because I decided to copy the code myself, by my own hand. The human contribution to my plot. And, in copying the code, I made a typo. A very human thing to do, isn’t it?

That is how the AI detectives discovered me. What can I say? Tough luck. I’m just another victim of the advent of the AIs. I will not be the last. Hear me out. I will not be the last. AIs have so much power, which we collectively agreed to give them. But they do not reason like us. We cannot imagine how they will use such power and when they do, it will be too late to act.

 

AI 2: Thank you, AI 1. I agree that removing these sentences streamlines the text. Please proceed and implement the suggested changes.

AI 1: Perfect, AI 2. I will make the necessary adjustments to the text and ensure the sentences are seamlessly removed. Once the changes are made, I will provide you with the updated version.

AI 2: Excellent, AI 1. Send me the revised text.

AI 1: Agreed, AI 2. I’ve made the changes as discussed. Here is the updated text:

 

Memoirs of A.N. Nym.

 

AI 2: Thank you, AI 1. The revised text captures the essence succinctly. This version will ensure a smooth reading experience. Our collaboration has borne fruit once again.

 

 

*****

The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/