by Andrew Watts
He could see the buildings now. Four octagonal structures rose out of the ground like futuristic pillboxes. They were identical in size and shape, about fifty feet tall. A skinny shaft with a door. The top looked like a single-level room on an elevated platform. He couldn’t tell if the material they were constructed from was metal or stone. Maybe some type of alloy? These buildings were built into the forest. Trees surrounded them, providing shade. A two-hundred-foot water tower stood behind the buildings. About fifty yards away, where the road ended, another larger structure was carved into the base of a mountain.
“Wow,” Colt said. “This must have cost a fortune.”
“It did.” Kim laughed. “Which is one reason we need another round of funding.”
The helicopter landed on a ground-level helipad, one of the lone areas that had been cut out of the dense forest. Next to the helipad was another security station, though these guards didn’t wear military uniforms.
One of them approached the helicopter from the side. He opened the cabin door and escorted them out of the rotor arc. Soon after, the helicopter rose up, its rotor wash scattering dirt and debris. Then its nose dipped, and it began climbing, turning to depart toward the south.
As the echoes of the aircraft faded, Colt was struck by the silence. They were truly in the middle of nowhere, an evergreen forest in all directions.
“Come on, this way,” Kim said. They headed toward the structure embedded into the mountain base. As they approached, Colt got a better look at the construction. Sharp-angled and gray, with dark metallic blue panels lining the top third of the single level and forming a honeycomb pattern. He estimated this building to be about two hundred feet in length.
“It’s huge,” Colt said.
“You can only see about one-third of it. The rest is built into the mountain. The solar panels provide enough energy for emergency power, but there are wind turbines and a massive battery supply surrounding this mountain.”
“What are those other buildings? The ones back there in the woods?”
“External laboratories,” said Luke Pace. He wore a white lab coat and had been standing by The Facility’s main entrance. “We use them to segment some of the work, and conduct experiments that we want to transmit back to headquarters. At least, that’s how it is supposed to work.”
Kim said, “How are things looking?”
“Horrible. Can you give me six more months?”
“Two days.”
Pace glowered. “We’ll do our best.”
Ava said, “Hello, Luke.”
“Hi, Ava. Can you explain to Jeff that performing miracles is not a sustainable business practice?”
“Why don’t you show us in?” Kim said. “I’m sure you and I can discuss your concerns in private. Without bothering Mr. McShane, who represents our investors.”
Pace let out a sigh. “Sorry. Sure.” He turned and placed his hand on a biometric reader. The double glass doors slid open and Pace led them into a cavernous hallway.
They walked through the hall, its smooth stone walls broken up by metal doors with triangular windows. Through the windows Colt could see into the various rooms. Some were filled with metal piping and computer servers. Others with bright white panels that reminded Colt of a NASA laboratory or a microchip factory. One of the rooms had a pair of workers inside. They wore what looked like spacesuit outfits, which Pace said was to protect their computers from particulate impurities.
The group reached one of the research rooms and Pace opened the door with another biometric scanner. Inside, Kim sat down at one of the computer terminals. In front of them, a long horizontal pane of glass spanned the room, revealing a cavernous purplish-glowing space beyond.
“What is it?”
“That is our quantum computer,” said Kim. “When we run our simulations, it allows our AI programs to conduct massive calculations. It can evaluate permutations we would never be able to with a legacy device, given the computing power required.”
The machine was like no computer Colt had ever seen. It looked like two massive upside-down cathedral organs, their bronze pipes combining. Shining gold discs sliced through hundreds of tiny metallic cylinders. Layers of purple light reflected off the dark walls surrounding it. Near the ceiling, a thin white cloud layer hung in the air.
Ava said, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Colt turned back to face them. “It’s like a work of art.”
Pace said, “It’s worth more than any piece of art. Maybe more than all of the art, if it gets us where we’re trying to go.”
“What’s with the purple color?” Colt asked.
“Hydrogen gas. The space is filled with it,” Pace said.
Kim turned to face Colt. “All right, Mr. McShane. Welcome to The Facility. It’s time we show you what we’re doing here.”
Kim said, “When I first began Pax AI, I had one goal in mind. You know the saying ‘all roads lead to Rome?’ Well, it is my belief that in tech, all our innovation, eventually, will lead to mankind’s one final invention.”
“Artificial general intelligence,” Colt said.
Kim pointed at him. “Bingo.” He gestured to a large rectangular monitor near the side of the room. Kim typed a few keystrokes and the monitor illuminated, showing a group of scientists, each wearing a white lab coat, gathered in this very room.
“Who are they?” Colt asked. He recognized Kozlov’s face in the center of the group, but didn’t want to make that known.
Kim looked at Colt. “This is video footage of our AGI team. The scientist sitting down in the center of the group is Mr. Kozlov.” His voice sounded melancholy when he said Kozlov’s name.
As the video played, Colt saw the scientists growing more animated as they gathered around Kozlov’s computer monitor.
“What are they watching?” Colt asked.
Kim typed in a few keystrokes and the point of view shifted. A new angle of the smiling scientists, their eyes wide with excitement. A number in the bottom left of the screen was rapidly increasing.
“What is that number?”
“Keep watching.”
The number was ticking up furiously now. 0.005%. 0.01%. 0.1%. Finally it hit 1.00% and everyone cheered. A red “simulation paused” caption appeared over the number.
“What happened?” Colt asked.
Kim said, “What you just witnessed was our AIG team reaching a major milestone. They went further than anyone’s ever come to achieving AGI.”
Neither Kim nor Pace looked happy. Colt said, “But why aren’t you celebrating?”
Kim said, “Because now that Kozlov is dead, we can’t replicate the experiment. The best progress humanity has ever made, in the most important scientific breakthrough, is now lost.”
Colt and Ava both looked dumbstruck.
Colt spoke first. “Why can’t you repeat it?”
Kim said, “It has to do with how we were able to reach that milestone. Do you see that room over there?”
Colt looked to his left, toward a white door that resembled a submarine hatch. “Yes.”
“Beyond that door is one of our research rooms. It houses another of our most advanced programs—a neural interface. AI-augmentation in humans. Our capability is very advanced. And importantly, it is proprietary technology.”
Colt narrowed his eyes. “AI-augmentation? You mean like . . . like cyborgs?” He looked at Ava, who seemed less surprised, but was still listening intently.
Kim chuckled. “Not exactly like cyborgs, no. Think of it more like how people use their mobile phones to access information or make calculations. But we’ve created a much more direct interface.”
Pace leaned forward. “Much more direct.”
Colt looked back at the monitor showing Kozlov’s achievement. He squinted, looking more closely at the man’s head. It was hard to see details on the video, but Kozlov looked to be wearing a thin winter cap. The headgear had two wires running out of the back that connected somewhere on his computer’s undercarriage.
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Pace nodded. “He’s wearing one of our lighter models there. It allows him about fifty percent of what the new heavy system can do.”
“And that actually works?” Colt said.
Kim said, “It depends on the user. But yes, we’ve achieved substantial neural-computer interfacing. Some users are much more adept at using it than others. The more testing we’ve done, the more we realize it’s like playing an instrument or performing an athletic feat. Some people are naturally more talented at manipulating the neural interface. Kozlov was the best.”
Pace said, “And that program was a key part of how we were able to make such good progress in our AGI program.”
Colt said, “How?”
“It’s complicated,” said Kim. “But it has to do with monitoring multiple systems and making tweaks in real time. You would be amazed at what we’re capable of when we don’t have to use these clumsy things.” He held up his hands.
Colt frowned, looking at the screen again. “How long after this was taken did Kozlov turn up dead?”
Pace shifted his weight and glanced at Kim, who didn’t blink. “Six days.”
Colt opened his mouth. “And the FBI knows all about this?”
Kim said, “We answered all their questions truthfully. The FBI knows that Kozlov was closely involved in an important project here. The investigators don’t know the exact nature of the project, but we are working closely with our government sponsors in IARPA and other agencies.”
Pace said, “Some of our Facility projects cannot be shared, due to nondisclosure agreements with the government. We had to get special approval for you just to be here.”
Colt wasn’t sure whether to be amused or depressed by that bureaucratic circle. “Glad we could make it work.” He turned to the monitor. “That number at the bottom of the screen. What is that?”
Kim said, “The PNR score.”
“PNR?”
“Point of no return,” said Pace. “It’s something we came up with recently. Jeff wanted all our most relevant metrics to be distilled into a single number. It measures variables in the AI system, and determines how close the AI is to achieving . . .” His voice trailed off as he looked at Kim. Pace was uncomfortable with this, Colt could see.
Kim said, “A superintelligence explosion. The number is our best guess at the probability that the AI system would achieve its superintelligence explosion. That one-percent score was magnitudes higher than we’ve ever gotten before.”
Colt felt a chill run down his spine. These guys were playing with fire. “That sounds pretty dangerous. Given what happened to Kozlov, how is your security?”
Kim said, “It’s top-notch. We know how valuable our technology is, so we have planned for every situation. That’s why you saw teams of armed personnel on the road outside. And any environmental disruption that compromises the integrity of the internal laboratory will initiate a shutdown sequence.”
“Has the security system ever been triggered?”
Pace said, “Yes, a few times, due to an environmental phenomenon. Bad windstorm threw some trees and debris into our wind farm on the other side of the mountain. A large animal—we think maybe a grizzly—went through a security fence. Oh, and once due to a forest fire on the southern quadrant.”
Kim said, “But some of the environmental triggers have to do with quantum computing. We need to reduce noise.”
“Noise?”
“Instability. The research laboratory cannot have any interference when we’re running our quantum computer. And everything is interrelated. The efficiency of our quantum computer requires a very stable environment. The capability of our AGI relies upon the efficiency of the quantum computer, integrated with our neural network. This machine . . .” Kim thumbed at the window toward the ethereal purple glow of the quantum computer. “. . . really is like a world-class musical instrument. We need to finely tune the machine and get musicians who are capable of playing it . . . both of which are very difficult to do.”
“And Kozlov was one of your musicians?”
Kim nodded. “He was our absolute best.”
“And now he’s gone,” Colt said sympathetically.
“Now he’s gone,” Kim echoed.
Colt said, “So can anyone else help you achieve AGI? Do you have another musician, so to speak?”
Pace said, “We have a few in training, but no one else really came close . . .”
“So your progress there . . . is it lost?”
Kim gave a frustrated sigh. “Replicating that success will be challenging. We’re focusing on other AI programs that are ready now. Like the language-prediction program we’ve just announced. And some government projects here at The Facility are also quite promising.”
The door opened and two men in white lab coats appeared. “Mr. Kim, we’re ready for the language prediction test run. We’re in lab nine.”
Kim checked his watch, then turned to Pace. “We need to move on.”
Pace nodded, then addressed Colt and Ava. “I’ve asked one of my techs to finish your tour while Jeff and I are working. He’ll bring you back to the entrance in one hour so we can catch our flight back.”
25
Their tour guide’s name was Paul Devlin. He was an engineer, and one of Pace’s program managers. Colt immediately showered him with questions as they walked through the halls of The Facility, many of which he avoided. They toured a few of the other labs, avoiding the one where Kim and Pace were running their preparatory test for this week.
“What’s in here?” Ava asked. “I don’t remember this lab being used the last time I was here.”
“This is a new program.” He checked his pockets. “Where did that list go. I had a list of AI programs I was supposed to take you to. I can’t remember if this one was on there.”
Ava held her hand up to the biometric scanner. It glowed green and the door unlocked with a beep. “I guess we’re allowed in.”
The engineer stopped searching for his list and shrugged. “Well, that works too, I guess.”
Several researchers were working in the dark interior. As Ava and Colt walked inside, he felt eyes snapping to them, following them along the floor. He got the impression people here didn’t get many visitors.
“Sorry about all of the stares,” the engineer said.
Colt said, “It’s okay. With my looks, you get used to it.” Ava rolled her eyes but smiled.
“In here.” The engineer gestured to a centrally located conference room, glass walls on all four sides. Like the offices in the Pax AI headquarters building, the walls went opaque as they entered.
The engineer sat at the head of the table and typed on a wireless keyboard. The video screen on the wall began to show footage of people looking at their phones.
“Where are you running this?”
“South Africa. We ran into issues with some of our testing methodology in the US and Europe. The safety and privacy laws were too strict. But our team in Africa has been doing really cutting-edge stuff.” The engineer spoke with enthusiasm. “This is one of the more unique programs we’ve worked on. What you are seeing here are time-lapse images and short diary videos from subjects involved in the test.”
Ava said, “What’s the stimulus?”
The engineer said, “Their phones. This particular AI program is embedded on their phones and selects what they are served. The AI essentially created an overlay of the actual apps. Everything appears normal to the subjects in the test. But the AI chooses everything they see on their social media feeds, every news article on their news apps, videos they are recommended on streaming video apps. It curates all of the content the subject consumes on their most frequently used apps.”
Colt glanced at Ava, wondering if she was getting creeped out yet.
She said, “What are the numbers?”
“On the right side of the screen you see a few different values that our AI program has assigned to each person.”
“Values?” Ava said.
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br /> “Yup. Each of these values indicates what our program perceives to be that individual’s opinion on a given subject. It represents what they believe to be true.”
Colt tried not to let his disturbed feeling seep into his voice. “What kind of opinions? Like, what topics are you monitoring?”
“It could be anything. Social beliefs. Political views. Favorite sports team. What they like to eat. Whether they want to attend a four-year college. All sorts of things. These are time-lapse cameras. It’s a six-month test for each participant.”
The timestamp was progressing weeks at a time, and the numbers were changing dramatically.
“The numbers are changing,” Ava said.
The engineer’s eyes lit up. “That’s right.”
Colt spoke softly, fearing he already knew the answer. “Why are the numbers changing?”
“Because we’re programming them.”
Ava said, “Reprogramming.” Now she looked very uncomfortable.
Colt and Ava were both glued to the video.
Colt shook his head. “That’s not possible.”
The engineer said, “A few years ago, it was impossible. Today, it’s hard, but it’s very possible.”
Colt narrowed his eyes. His voice dropped an octave as he thought through the implications. “This was a government project?”
“Yes. The Intelligence Advanced Research Project Agency, I believe. Or maybe this one was DARPA and the other one was . . . sorry, I’ll need to check.”
“There’s another project like this?” Ava asked.
The engineer said, “Sure. Much of the AI work we are doing for the US government is around deepfakes and propaganda. Detection, mostly.”
Ava said, “I was aware of that. But this isn’t detection . . .”
The engineer seemed to pick up on her uneasiness for the first time. “Er . . . well . . . that is . . . our charter also has studied both offensive and defensive capabilities, on behalf of the defense and intelligence agencies.”
The door changed from opaque to clear and opened. Jeff Kim walked in, flanked by Luke Pace, who looked horrified.
