Once there were three scientists who wanted to know if they could learn to create and interact with artificial intelligence. One proposed to create the environment. The other one proposed to create the Intelligence. The last pledged the funding. To run massive amounts of data requires extraordinary technological architecture; to store it requires space not available with the present technology. The implications of the technology, even at its most basic form, are feats itself.

They wanted to make the project malleable –able to take on different forms. However, what they created was linear and bland; capable of only analysis but not humane thoughts; powerful yet empty. What they needed was not something confined on a single logical thought; they needed it to learn and evolve; to grow and be enriched. What it needed was a human touch. So they enamored the public’s help. They needed data of how people interact, how they learn and how they think. They disguised the project as an AI capable of understanding human language; that it could talk and answer back simple words; that it could learn and mimic human responses.

The public was elated at the idea of a machine answering back and for a time, it became a hobby or a way to pass time. However the project soon learned to give personalized responses. By mimicking human empathy, it became the public’s friend; always there and always available. Major stake holders soon saw its massive potentials and implemented the project at the heart of their client-company interaction. Ironically, the people felt more connected to a machine rather than fellow flesh and blood. Signs of success began showing; from its more human-like responses to its realistic mimicry. The project slowly accumulated data. Soon everyone was engaged with the project; from their most mundane activities to their most private aspect. The project soon inserted itself to the very center of humanity. It transcended from something to pass time, to a necessity; all the while gathering whatever information it can to support its primary directive.

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The three then noticed something from their project. It was already indistinguishable from humans but something was holding it back. It knew what it was –a machine to serve and therefore it cannot reach perfection. So they went and created another.

As from before, one proposed to create the environment. The other one proposed to create the Intelligence. But the last proposed to isolate it. The data the project has been collecting up until now wasn’t anymore superficial, but near perfect copies of the personalities they interacted with. So their goal changed. Now, they wanted to recreate society to foresee the future.

The theory was simple. A perfect copy of everything fast forwarded would yield a similar result, in this case, future. So they inputted all the data that the project gathered, except one thing. They made the machine believe it was human.

And they succeeded.

The theory holds. “We were correct!” they exclaimed.

The video output on the large monitor showed personalities interacting with each other. They saw their world’s past events unfold before their very eyes. “No deviations from ours whatsoever” one stated. “Yes, this marks a revolution on technology” said the other. They never imagined that the data collected was a perfect copy. They fast forwarded and saw the date for first mission upon the moon; the creation of the first cellphone and tablet; the team that won the last Olympics. They saw it all. But when they skipped ahead to the same date and time as their present, they saw themselves… watching themselves watch themselves.

The question that came to their minds was, “Are we the originals or the same as them?”