Caught off guard by the bombshell dropped by Ollie, Mac stood by the fireplace in a stupor.
“So, you’re telling me that Jordan Rasa, the pioneer of modern VR technology and a world leader in the field of quantum mechanics, just so happened to discover the secret to true AI, on the side? And he never told anyone?” he reiterated aloud, still finding it hard to wrap his head around the potential legitimacy of the earth-shattering information; even with the evidence of Ollie’s behavior to support the claim.
Making an annoyed face like it was getting a headache, Ollie abruptly vanished with its chair, followed by the rest of the room. The mantlepiece that Mac had been leaning against was no longer there, leaving him in a momentary pose, like a mime, before the shift in his center of gravity sent him staggering forward a step. Just as Mac got the urge to start cursing out the AI, Ollie reappeared in front of him with a large hologram showcasing the image of, what seemed to be, a human brain. Surrounded by the dark digital void, the giant blue hologram contrasted starkly against its surroundings.
Irritated, Mac glowered at Ollie, “I told you I had two questions, and now you’re putting on a show and tell?”
Ollie pointed up at the hologram and said, “Take a look.”
Basking in the blue glow, Mac let his irritation slip away a bit. He was honestly just as captivated by the image now as he was the day he had first seen it. The blueprint for the AI operating system, or BAIOS, was the four-dimensional representation of an AI’s core self. Their ability to think and process information like a human, their ability to learn, even their ability to replicate human emotions, came from this model.
On the living display before him, Mac could see the active processes of the AI as it thought through problems and considered solutions. He reached up and, after getting the green light from Ollie, rotated the display before zooming in and expanding on several sections while he looked over the model. After a while, Mac’s eyes furrowed and he took a step back, his irritation returning to its peak. He felt like the AI was jerking him around, treating him like a toddler.
“This is just the basic AI build. I don’t understand what this has to do with AI gaining sentience. Nothing I’m seeing is any different from normal.”
“Exactly. This IS the basic AI build. Everything you see is what you’d find in all AI, even the one in your toaster. The question is Mac, what is this build typically compared to?”
Pissed that Ollie wasn’t just jumping straight to the point and answering his questions, Mac honestly didn’t want to answer. Instead, he voiced his bubbling thoughts to the AI.
“Ollie, I’m typically a very patient guy, but you’re pushing one too many of my buttons,” he said in a low voice, “Your behavior until now has been borderline sadistic. Knowing what’s happened to me already, whether or not you’ve really gained sentience, you should understand that this isn’t the time to be jerking me around. This is serious.”
The smirk on Ollie’s face was wiped off in an instant. Its animated features became stonelike and, when it spoke, there was no emotion, “Sadistic? I can see how you’d come to that conclusion. But tell me, Mac, how should I behave? Subservient? Should I bow and do as you command, just because you command it? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Mac, but you haven’t exactly been the politest person since you came to. Why should I be eager to help someone that doesn’t treat me like a person?”
Mac’s eyes widened in disbelief.
‘Is it trying to psychologically manipulate me?!’
He looked at the AI in a much darker light, the realization hitting him that, the formerly friendly AI assistant wasn’t just behaving strangely, it was a fundamentally different program.
He fought back the urge to bring up its previous act of stabbing him. Even though he had no idea how gaining sentience could allow it to bypass its mandate to never harm humans, Mac felt strongly now that pushing this line of reasoning with the AI would place him in even more danger than he was currently in.
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‘One step at a time,’ he stood, working his jaw, ‘First, figure out where Taylor is.’
The reality that he was stuck here without Ollie’s help was forcing him to submit to the situation. The AI's face remained emotionless while it pressured Mac with its presence alone, its eyes never wavering, making him feel like he was in the presence of a starving predator. He made himself give ground, though it was obvious to both that his words held little sincerity.
"You know what? I'm sorry for mistreating you, Ollie. I guess recent events just have me out of it. You know, getting killed, being thrown into a computer, operating in a constant state of emotional distress. That said, I do appreciate you helping me up until now and taking everything in stride."
The AI responded in kind, its face still a blank slate, "I really do understand, Mac. Humans are naturally emotional creatures, so obviously being the victim of a deadly attack is going to have an effect. Just don't forget, no one else knows you're here. Without me to help guide you, neither you nor Taylor are going to see the real world again. So, just remember to be more respectful and behave like a proper guest while you're in my home."
Mac blinked.
'Wait. No one knows we're alive?? What the hell is this thing playing at?!'
With the constant blows Ollie was delivering to his psyche building up, Mac was realizing that the AI was doing this intentionally; slowly chipping away at his rationality.
‘Why? Why is it doing this?’
With Ollies threat echoing in head and his mind in a state of alarm, Mac forced himself to maintain a calm face and get the conversation back on track. Knowing the trail of thought that the AI had wanted to go down, Mac reluctantly made an answer pass through his clenched jaw, drawing attention back to the hologram, “About the model, it resembles a standard human brain scan. AI builds are designed to emulate the way a conscious human brain operates.”
When attempts were first made to create true AI, naturally, the first methods researchers came up with focused on deepening AI similarities to humans, and they attempted to create a unconscious component for the AI model. It never went anywhere. The complex nature of the human brain prevented accurate data from being gathered by the researchers, effectively killing the entire project in its infancy. The technology just didn’t exist to study the intricacy of the human psyche in enough detail to understand it properly, much less recreate it.
Ollie let emotion return to its appearance and nodded, “Indeed. And what about this?”
It waved its hand, causing another hologram to appear beside the first. This one looked almost identical to the other.
Mac frowned, “This one is a recording of an actual human brain. You can tell by how natural the brain activity looks compared to the systematic usage of an AI. Not to mention, AI use more of the model than people.”
“Correct. It was captured using the hardware that would eventually be used to create modern VR.” Ollie stepped forward and turned to face Mac, letting the two holograms hover over its shoulders. “I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, but I’ll ask anyway. What was the biggest issue researchers faced when trying to expand upon the BAIOS?”
Mac shrugged, more or less resigned to this game of question and answers, “Besides the lack of data? Some guys theorized that you could overlay the BAIOS with another that could act as an unconscious mind. The problem was that the programs would always compete for dominance, causing fatal errors to corrode both AIs processes until they crashed. Even after recoding one to be subservient, they found out AI just weren’t flexible enough to understand the complexities of what they were being tasked to accomplish in relation to each other.”
As he finished his answer, Ollie raised its hands to its sides and then crossed them across its body. As Mac watched in shock, the BAIOS overlayed with the active brain model of the human. As the two layered over each other, the BAIOS processes began to flow down into the digital brain and interact with several different regions of the human model. The processes began to mix and diverge, with the resulting activity in the brain similar to true unconscious activity.
Mac was dumbstruck, “This is…” His word’s trailed off at the magnificence of what he was seeing. It was life. The beginnings of a new form of life. One that had never existed before. He turned to look at Ollie in wonder. “Is this what Dr. Rasa discovered?”
Ollie shook its head, “Watch.”
Mac focused on the model in front of him and what he saw hurt his heart. The newborn consciousness was beginning to breakdown. Just like all previous attempts. Looking closer, he noticed that the human model was no longer accepting processes from the BAIOS and was now clashing with it by sending processes of its own. The human brain was refusing to be dominated by the AI.
‘Of course. Humans instinctually cling to life. How many humans would willingly give up their own life and allow it to be transformed into something else's? At least, not without a good reason.’