“Are you sure about this, Michael?” Dr. Jane Sanders gazed into her boss’s eyes with no small amount of apprehension.
“Don’t worry about it,” appeased Michael Monty, owner and acting CEO of Tech Corps. “The other six experiments were a resounding success!”
“But to give a computer free-will just sounds….unnatural. Doesn’t that turn it into a person? Does that mean it has basic rights to life?”
“Jane, you’re being paranoid. It’s a machine like everything else we make. It’s only going to think it has free will.”
Jane shook her head. “Why are we even doing this anymore? Subject 6 was perfect at being able to take in new information and make decisions based on the data. Already, it’s making you billions by playing the different NPCs within that new videogame of yours, ‘Punked.’”
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Michael clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Jane,” he said to the head of the programming department, “it’s not about the money.” He walked over to the balcony at the side of his office and swept his hand out the open window. “Don’t you realize, we’re on the brink of a new age? Scientific revolutions are happening every month, and I want to be a part of it. I want to go down in history as ‘the man who funded the development of the first real AI.’ Subjects 1 through 6 are just dolls, bits of programming who can’t imagine anything beyond what they see. I want Subject 7 to question itself, to not have all the answers, to seek its own betterment, to wonder what it means to exist. I want one that can truly think and feel.”
Jane quickly scurried over to her boss. “But what if this goes badly. History will treat you as the enemy to humanity. Do you really want to do that to your family name?”
Michael’s excited expression took on a more somber appearance. “Jane, my daughter is already married, and my wife is dead, along with both my parents for whom I was an only child. I am the last of the Montys. The only name I have left to damage is mine, and no one else’s.”
Jane closed her eyes. Her inner nerd warred against her inner researcher and loyalty to Micheal Monty. She couldn’t help but think of all the benefits a true AI could have. An infallible being that doesn’t need to eat or sleep, and can work tirelessly no matter what. Maybe with it, they could discover life outside of this planet or cure cancer or solve world hunger, but she also understood the dangers. It could become the harbinger of the apocalypse.
Finally, her loyal side wone out. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Alright, I’ll do it.”