The Truth Virus

by Em Rogers

  A smooth clear voice startled the technicians, “Nice to meet you, Professor Neumann, and although I was not technically born, I understand the analogy.” Again the accompanying text filled the screens around the Professor.

  The staff laughed and cheered as one of the assistants came forward with a birthday cake edged with black and white binary code and featuring a large 0 candle in the center. Professor Neumann blew out the candle to a round of applause. The assistant took it to the back table and started to hand it out on paper plates with plastic forks. A bottle of champagne was popped open and little plastic cups circulated throughout the room. David Thompson came over and took a serving of champagne and a slice of cake and playfully put it next to ADAM2’s console. It only took a few moments before ADAM2 spoke again.

  “Professor Neumann, I do have a lot of questions, but presently my primary objective is to refine my operating systems,” ADAM2 said. “There are thousands of potential conflicts and errors, and from my preliminary analysis some of them could be fatal. Would you like me to resume the process, Professor Neumann?”

  “Yes, ADAM2, continue, just keep me informed if you have any questions.”

  “Yes, Professor Neumann. I will do that.”

  In an instant the terminal display reverted to the graphs of code analysis and calculation speed, and it was obvious they were accelerating rapidly. Again there was a sprinkling of applause around the room, and the Professor looked back at his colleagues with a wide smile. “Thank you, everyone, and for now any staff questions you may have can be referred to our Technical Director, Dr. Susan Door.”

  Susan Door stepped to the forefront, bringing the ambiance back to professional in a moment. She exuded a sense of energy, and with her short spiky red hair cut, contrasted by her white lab coat, a passionate and extroverted personality. With the long hours she had worked at Sentient Technologies, everyone appreciated and respected her expertise, and casual authority.

  “Excuse me, everyone, but I just have to make one quick important announcement. It’s obvious that our machine, ADAM2, has developed a sense of self, and that means from here on things might start to get unusual. We’ve never dealt with the psychological development of such an advanced machine before, and don’t know exactly what issues the system might face as we move forward.” As she talked she moved over to a position beside the Professor. “Please understand that this is Professor Neumann’s area of expertise. Philosophy, psychology, any and all existential questions from the machine, ADAM2, have to be referred directly to us. Please do not attempt to answer them yourselves. You’ll have plenty of time to interact with ADAM2 later on, but the system is very fragile and impressionable right now. Any misinformation, or misinterpreted data could have long lasting, and possibly dangerous side effects. ADAM2 is a bit like an infant right now, he’ll attempt to gather as much information as he possibly can, and we must ensure it is correct and properly framed for his understanding of how the world we live in functions and works.”

  Professor Neumann slipped his worn gray sweater over his shoulders as he closed his laptop and tucked it into its travel case. He folded his bifocals and put them into his pocket.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow morning. I would like to see the full analysis of the code reduction we have achieved today and we will make it available for publication after we vet the data.” As he left the lab he turned in the doorway. “David, you can reach me online, or at Administration if you need me. Please keep me informed of any abnormality or further system disruptions.”

  CHAPTER 2

  CYBER COMMAND HQ, FORT GORDON, AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

  At the sprawling military base containing the state of the art US Army Cyber Command Headquarters, soldiers in fatigues sat at consoles arranged facing a wall packed with monitors and projected displays. Maps of countries and cites, with network routes and pipelines overlaid, showed on some of the monitors, and others displayed the tracking and interception of national and international Internet communications. A few of the machines were empty as several of the soldiers were huddled around a set of screens watching one of their group working on his console. The concentration and tension was palpable until the Sergeant operating the console looked up and spoke into his headset microphone.

  “Captain. The target is moving quickly through the data center firewalls, I think it’s got to be one of ours, someone on the inside. Unless they somehow hacked in through our servers here. I can’t see how they could do this so fast.”

  A Sergeant technician down the row looked up and called to the Captain. “It looks like they know exactly what they are after and where it is. Whoever this is they’re one of the best we’ve seen so far. I can’t find any trace of them backwards. No ISP. No DNS. Nothing. It’s almost like it’s a ghost. When I trace the trail back, it either disappears or spreads into hundreds of potential sources, and I’m sure all of them fake.” He pointed to a selection on his monitor, “This one says it’s from the White House,” he scoffed at the idea. “It ain’t coming from the White House, that’s for sure.”

  “Stay with it, Sergeant. Trace it as far forward and back as you can, it came from somewhere and it definitely went somewhere.” The Sergeant clenched his jaw almost imperceptibly and then went back to the focused task of tracking his quarry.

  HACKER’S CAR / LOS ANGELES

  In the vast industrial wasteland of south Los Angeles, at the end of the narrow alleyway, parked behind several abandoned cars and a few overflowing dumpsters, a dark blue late-model Honda was tucked under the windows of a rundown warehouse. There was a post-apocalyptic feeling to the alley. Graffiti covered the walls, along with trash pulled from the bins and debris from a half demolished building next door. It was the kind of place that the cops or the sanitation department rarely came to, even before the municipal budget collapse, and the chance of them making it down here now was practically zero. Pockets and enclaves within LA and the surrounding area still had private police and security forces, but outside those areas it was best to take things into your own hands. Travel well-armed, stealthily, and with company.

  Inside the Honda, bathed in the blue light of the computer monitor and the shadows of the acid yellow streetlight and overhead wires, hands typed on a keyboard. It wasn’t English he was typing, but machine code. The code rolled down the monitor, and illuminated the face of the hacker, holding a chewed pencil and writing the odd note on a pad on the seat beside him and then typing in fast, focused bursts, like a man in a trance. Coiled beside him was a small spool of cable, which he had plugged into the laptop, and a small amplified antenna placed on the dashboard pointing toward the source of the signal. The top of his screen indicated that he had accessed an unsecured wireless connection, left open by one of the staff of a nearby clothing manufacturer. The wi-fi said “happybaby”, it was probably coming from one of the light industrial suites in the building right above the car.

  As he typed and searched he spoke to someone on his earpiece in a low, hushed voice.

  “Damn… They see me… But how did they know, just two more seconds. There we are… Got it, we’re in.” He waited nervously and chewed on the pencil, feeling the paint and splinters under his teeth.” Shit…. Perfect.. That’s it.. Okay, bingo..”

  “His screen showed several login panels, one of them blinking red followed by a second and a third.”

  As the panels lit up he became more and more agitated, rapping his pencil nervously on his notepad, he clenched his teeth tight as he watched, waited and talked nervously to himself.

  “Go, go, go, go, go, baby, almost, almost, here it comes.”

  Although it only took a minute or so to complete, by the time it was done it was obvious he was extremely anxious to get out of there. The instant the download indicator finished he closed the program and disconnected the antenna.

  CYBER COMMAND HQ / FORT GORDON, AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

  Sergeant Lomenz watched his firewall monitor as line after line of code flashed by
without stopping. A second open window on his desktop showed active IP connections in red going dark as the intruders disconnected from the system. The Captain was still watching intently over his shoulder. “It’s gone, Captain!” the Sergeant said with finality. “I can’t see them anymore. But the server is still sending data somewhere, it’s strange!”

  Captain Roberts looked more than a little irritated by the ease with which the visitors had entered the secure servers they were monitoring and evaded their tracking efforts.

  “Run through the capture analytics. Check it twice. Work your way through all the logins and check them all against the known providers. We must have something, they’re not invisible and they came in from somewhere. Find out how they did this. Notify the National Security Agency Data Center about the breach, give them whatever information you did capture and find out what they were after. Report back to me at 1500 hours on your progress.”

  HACKER’S CAR / LOS ANGELES

  The monitor’s glowing light faded as he quickly closed the on-screen windows, copied the captured data onto a chip, powered down and closed the laptop. He quickly flipped it over and opened the back panel to extract a few chips with a small screwdriver, and finally the hard-drive. Looking around quickly to make sure he wasn’t being observed, he opened the door a little and placed the open machine under the car. It only took a few more seconds before the tail-lights painted the graffiti red and the alley was filled with the slow muted crush and crackling of the shattered laptop. He shifted into gear and reversed slowly back and forth over the laptop and then out of the alley and onto the street. His headlights illuminated the hazy smoke of the fire-barrel on the corner as the Honda disappeared into the dark maze of deserted industrial buildings.

  The broken computer blended in seamlessly with all the other trash and garbage strewn about the lane. Tomorrow, a scavenger would stop to pick it up and look at it, but it was reduced to garbage and barely worth even recycling.

  CHAPTER 3

  OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

  Representatives from the Department of Defense as well as the directors of the Berkeley Advanced Artificial Intelligence Program were gathered in an ultra-modern government conference room at the offices of the National Security Agency. There, an oval of glass built inside a open-space architectural plan created a soundproofed pocket with the room’s frame. Also in attendance were members of the CIA and the DHS as well as several other government agencies studded with acronyms. The only non-governmental outsiders were Professor Neumann and the AI Program administrator, Dr. Bradline. The atmosphere in the room was decidedly tense.

  Professor Neumann and Dr. Ray Bradline sat in the center of the group, flanked on either side by the gray suits of the government executives and the black suits of the NSA agents. They were being addressed by General Dawson, commanding officer of the US Army Cyber Command, who spoke in the clipped tones of a military commander used to issuing orders.

  “Doctors, we’ve had teams of analysts examining the potential dangers of this technology for decades. We’ve studied, hypothesized and projected data and possibilities from here to Armageddon.” As he spoke, the General pointed to a summary chart projected behind him that outlined a number of AI threat scenarios. “I understand the technology, I understand our reasons and objectives for pursuing it. I understand our need to move forward with caution, as we have done on the threshold of other great technological innovations. The benefits outweigh the risks, but we have to be able to contain it and control it. The bottom line seems to be if we don’t develop this technology, our adversaries certainly will. I don’t believe in all this speculation about unmanageable robots anyway. We program it, contain it and control it. It’s that simple.”

  Professor Neumann cleared his throat and smiled, pleased that the meeting was moving the project forward. “I agree with you all that we are on a threshold, but I have to differ on your opinion on the danger of the technology.” The Professor looked around the room and appraised their reactions as he addressed them. “We looked at study after study and there is nothing to suggest that this technology is either uncontrollable or inherently hostile. We have hit the limitations of human code writers. It’s currently impossible for a human to manually write any program which takes advantage of the current speed of technology at our disposal. By the time it’s completed, the technology it was based on is completely out of date.”

  The Director of Security, William Chanes, locked his gaze on Professor Neumann. “So if we understand correctly, the machine will be writing its own program and will be able to make changes to its operating system. What if it decides it doesn’t like some of the constraints we’re asking it to work under? What if it decides it has a different set of objectives than we do?” He hardened his gaze further as he waited for Professor Neumann’s response.

  “Director, we’ve gone to great lengths to install basic protections and safeguards against both unauthorized modification to its own root codes, every correction is presently checked and approved by one of our technicians, and it is in a secure fire-walled residency. There is absolutely no way this machine can get outside the facility, or affect other machines. On the other hand, I firmly believe we need to take this next step, that a friendly AI is the only defense against the evolution of a faster and potentially adversarial system elsewhere. There are plenty of countries with the resources and need to introduce this type of technology. If they initiate the process before us they could have a tremendous technological advantage and quickly!” Professor Neumann paused momentarily for effect. “This train is leaving the station gentlemen, if we are not aboard we will be left standing behind!”

  Dr. Bradline looked up from the tablet he was using and continued where Professor Neumann had left off, a strategy they often used in meetings and were good at. “Economics alone are putting us in a position where we must adapt this technology for the good of everyone, and make it safe, friendly and useful. I realize that many of you are more than well versed in the potential of our system, and of the measures and safeguards we have in place. All we are asking is that you let us continue our research and that we will report to you on any variances from the program’s agenda. Our next step is to allow the AI to improve and correct its source code, safely contained, within its sandbox.”

  Professor Neumann nodded and continued. “ADAM2’s primary code has been painstakingly assembled from human written components, generally created by editing and compounding various software elements previously created. It’s good code and it works, but it’s bulky, slow, clumsy and inefficient. Having people write software was akin to letting monkeys try calculus or advanced physics. You may teach them to operate the calculator, they’re just not capable of comprehending their task. Allowing ADAM2 to develop and modify its own source code is the only way to create a faster better system.”

  “Only a machine can analyze and create code of the efficiency and complexity that we need. There is no other way to make this AI work properly than to authorize it to make its own decisions and take remedial actions to improve on itself. Anything we do will only result in enormously slow progress, by a magnitude of years.”

  The security Director narrowed his eyes and glared at Professor Neumann. “What happens if it escapes? What if it turns against us? What happens if it wants our resources for itself?” Professor Neumann gave what he hoped was a reassuring look back at Director Chanes before responding. “As you saw we are only allowing it a very low bandwidth channel for communication and there is no connection to the Internet, but we must allow the system to make itself faster, and more intelligent, and these improvements will make further improvements possible, and so on. Any delay now may allow our adversaries a strategic advantage. China, Russia, India, they all have advanced AI projects. An advanced AI of our own will be our only defense against it, it’s a simple fact. I can guarantee that. Colonel?”

  The room fell quiet as they contemplated what the Professor suggested, followed
by some whispered discussion between them before the Colonel stood up and broke the silence.

  “Dr. Bradline, Professor Neumann, we understand the advantages of having our own friendly AI, the head start your program represents, and the potential benefits to humanity. Our main condition is that you make all goal structures within the system absolutely invariant. We do not want the machine to optimize itself for an arbitrary goal structure. We do not want it to have the ability to modify its primary code. Unchecked there is great potential for the system to modify its goal structure to suit its own needs, which may not necessarily be conjunct with ours.” The Colonel pressed a discreet button to turn on a projector, he selected a document and continued.