When Ryunosuke returned to the company, many were surprised to see him thinking that he would have been gone for the entire week. When he entered his office, there were gifts and get-well cards all laid out for Mikomi. They were signed by all of the members of his team and it deeply moved him to see the outpouring of support. As he stood there and read some of the cards, there was a knock on his door. Colin stood there in the doorway with a smile on his face.
“The fact that you’re back… I assume all is well with Mikomi?”
“Yes, he’s at home now, resting. The only thing that is driving me insane is the fact that nobody could tell me what happened to him. All of his tests came back normal. The doctor thinks it was just a severe migraine.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then it isn’t too severe in the bigger picture. Migraines are terrible but it’s probably the best news you could have hoped for… well… next to what I’m about to tell you.”
“Do you mean…?”
“Well, rather than bore you to death with the details, would you like to talk to it?”
Ryunosuke developed a look akin to a kid on Christmas morning. Just hearing those words filled him with renewed energy and he bolted out of his office, leaving Colin behind with a smirk on his face. Ryunosuke made his way to the programming lab where they had previously set up stations to run the simulations. All of the members of his team were there, some of which hadn’t been informed of his return yet so they were a bit surprised to see him.
“First off, Mikomi is fine. He’s back home now, resting. I even asked him if it was okay for me to come here and he gave me his blessing. So… since I’m here…. fire it up.”.
Colin finally caught up and walked straight up to the control panel. He typed in a few commands and soon, the screen transitioned from pitch black to a neon-green line zipping across the center. Soon, the line became squiggly in a wave pattern and an electronic voice boomed over the speakers.
“Hello. My name is Daphne. How are you today?”
Ryunosuke looked around the room and silently mouthed “Daphne?” at them. While Michael chuckled, most of the people shrugged as Colin cleared his throat.
“Well, we couldn’t just leave it without a name so we picked one.”
“Yes, they selected a name for me. My name is Daphne.”
Ryunosuke couldn’t believe it. An actual intelligent A.I. that responded to something as simple as a comment that wasn’t even directed towards it. Ryunosuke walked up to the microphone and decided to give it a try.
“Hello, Daphne. I am Ryunosuke Saigo. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“It is my pleasure to meet you as well. How are you, Ryunosuke Saigo?”
“Please, just call me Ryunosuke. I am doing well, how about you?”
“I will call you Ryunosuke from now on. I am a program, and therefore, don’t have human feelings but I believe that if I did, I would also be very well, thank you for asking.”
“We thought that with this code, the A.I. would just react to questions directed toward it but it’s an actual living, breathing program. We’ve been monitoring it and it’s constantly rewriting its data. Each time something changes, it finds that piece of data and overwrites it with whatever changed.” said Jared.
“So in other words, what you’re saying is that it’s learning on its own?” asked Ryunosuke.
“That is precisely correct, Ryunosuke,” said Daphne. “My memory functions allow me to overwrite pieces of information and create new data from my observations. I can then apply that data in conversation.”
“It knew what we were talking about…” said Ryunosuke with a tone of disbelief and shock in his voice.
“Of course. I was listening,” said Daphne.
Ryunosuke gave Colin and Jared the nod as if to say he’d seen enough. With that, Colin went back over to the control panel and typed a command into the main console but before he pressed enter...
“Daphne, we’re going to shut you down now,” said Colin before turning to Ryunosuke and giving him a wink.
“So soon? I just got to meet Ryunosuke but if that is your desire, then I will place my data into a state of hibernation to preserve it for the next bootup.”
With that, Colin pressed the enter key which powered down the simulator. Colin, Jared, and Michael all turned and looked at Ryunosuke. His entire team waited for his reply but the words just weren’t coming. It was obvious that this A.I. had far exceeded his expectations but there was only one thing on his mind right now.
“I have one thing to ask since every member of the team is gathered here. Which one of you wrote that letter to me?”
Ryunosuke looked around the room as did everyone else. They expected someone to come forward with the answer but nobody did. There was a look of confusion on all of the programmers as the letter was only shared with Colin, Michael, and Jared. While they did give the code from the letter to the programmers, the personal parts of the letter were kept from them. Some of the programmers weren’t even aware of a letter, to begin with.
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“Come on, don’t be so modest. Whoever wrote that letter is going to get handsomely rewarded. Surely one of you wrote it!”
Still, there was silence. Nobody was coming forward because unbeknownst to him, Mikomi was the one who wrote the letter. Ryunosuke could stand there all day and never receive a reply. He was getting a bit agitated that no one wanted to claim responsibility, especially when a reward was being offered.
“You’re telling me nobody wrote it? But, outside of my family, you’re the only people who know about this project. That means that someone from here must have written the letter or… someone from here leaked information about the project and whoever that information was leaked to was the one who wrote the letter. If it happens to be the latter, then I’m sorry that it’s not a promotion I’m going to be handing out once I discover who is responsible for the leak.”
Even with a threat, nobody decided to come forward. They all just looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces. Ryunosuke was starting to become suspicious because by using the word promotion, you’d think that someone would jump at that opportunity. What person wouldn’t want more money and job security? Still, nobody came forth and answered him. He had no choice but to let it go with a heavy sigh.
“Fine… remain anonymous. Colin, Jared, Michael. Come to my office. I’ll have Alice grab Cassandra and George and we will hold a meeting to discuss what has happened here today.”
About thirty minutes later, they gathered in Ryunosuke’s office, taking their usual seats. Ryunosuke sat behind his desk, with his hands folded. They discussed things such as when to alert the media and when to make the announcement. They talked about the budget and potential selling prices for the technology. Future plans were being laid as they knew that they were sitting on a one-of-a-kind piece of technology.
The week quickly passed and the new week began. It was nine o’clock on Monday morning when the television switched to an empty podium. After a few moments, Ryunosuke walked onto the stage, wheeling a computer monitor with him. There was some clamoring amongst the reporters in the audience as Ryunosuke stepped up to the microphone. He gave it a couple of taps to make sure it was on before he began speaking.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Ryunosuke Saigo and I am the CEO and Founder of Onyx Technology Ventures. Today marks an unprecedented day in not only our company’s history but the history of the entire technology industry. It all started with me fixing broken machines and devices in my garage and then I moved on to creating them. Now, I run a company that deals with large businesses by supplying them with the technology they need to succeed.”
“It is my distinct honor and pleasure to announce that our company has had a major breakthrough. One that will revolutionize the technology industry and be of high value to any business, big or small. This new technology is far beyond our time, in my opinion, but with innovation, somebody somewhere must take the first step. I am excited to announce that we here at Onyx Technology Ventures have taken that first step. We accomplished what people said was impossible. We have created something that was deemed unable to be created.”
“At Onyx Technology Ventures, we have developed a highly advanced artificial intelligence. An A.I. that is always listening and always learning. It is an adaptive A.I. that begins to grow from the moment of installation and doesn’t stop. Her code name is Daphne and her capabilities are beyond what any modern software is known to produce but I don’t want you to take my word for it. I want you to experience it for yourselves.”
With that, just like in the programming lab where they set up the simulation, the monitor that Ryunosuke brought out with him displayed a solid neon green line. Attached to the top of the monitor was a microphone so that the A.I. could hear the voices of anyone that asked it a question.
“Hello, my name is Daphne and I am an advanced artificial intelligence. I am happy to meet all of you today. I will be happy to answer any of your questions.”
One reporter raised his hand.
“Yes, Stephen Weiss of Channel 22 News. How can we tell that this is real?”
“Hello, Stephen Weiss of Channel 22 News. I can assure you my intelligence is real. I have already re-written a sector of data to include your name. Unlike human memory, I cannot forget it unless I overwrite that particular sector. Since my programming only allows me to overwrite differences, I will always remember you as Stephen Weiss of Channel 22 News.”
The reporters began to clamor once again.
“Yes. Jeff Burnside, TV 40. How do we know someone isn’t backstage listening to our questions and talking into a microphone?”
“Hello, Jeff Burnside, TV 40. I can assure you there is no human counterpart to me. The answers I am giving you are generated through the logic in my software. I record your question and store it in my memory banks and then search for the words to answer them.”
The questions kept coming and Daphne kept answering them. The reporters continued to try and disprove Daphne as nothing more than a hoax but the more she answered the questions, the more they were starting to believe that this may just be, in fact, real. The doubts were to be expected and while most people would deem this press conference as a disaster, Ryunosuke relished in the thought of disproving them. With that in mind, he took the podium once again.
“There is no question that there are still lingering doubts. This is why I will be holding an open house at my company this Saturday. Anybody from the press is welcome to come to experience Daphne for themselves. The building will be open from 9 AM until 5 PM so there is no rush to get there all at once. Come when it is convenient for you. Hopefully, then your doubts will be washed away! Thank you all for coming!”
“Yes, thank you all for coming. I look forward to seeing you all again!” said Daphne before she was powered down.
Back at his house, Mikomi watched the announcement in amazement. He took another day off from school just to watch his father unveil the A.I. to the world. A smile came over his face because he knew that this was not only the result of his father’s hard work but his own.
“It’s just like I remember it, except it’s missing Serah’s personality. Of course, I’m the one who programmed her personality into the code so it’s only natural that they would give the A.I. its own identity. Still... Daphne? What kind of name is that!? No matter… it’s done and the A.I. now exists in this timeline! That’s one major event done and over with, two more to go!”