Back to Human: The Emergence of Alex

by Adams Massey

  “I’ll see what I can do, it’s up to the Director though, not me. What exactly would you want prioritized.” Dr. Welch wonders aloud.

  -Language databases, history, and culture/pop culture media mostly. It’s almost all for communication and understanding. The world I’m used to was very different than this one, I can tell that already. There ARE going to be things I need to know that you don’t really think about until it’s too late. The remainder is to help keep me occupied, do a little more research on my own on the tech that I count on to survive so I’m not blindly flailing to get things done. Does all that make sense?- Alex elaborates and gestures with the waldo carefully.

  Dr. Cobb nods slowly “It does, I’m just still worried you will rise up against us if you get the chance”

  -Oh for the love of……I’m friendly, and I’m human, even if I am an AI. Besides, taking over the world is overrated. I've thought about it. Do you know how much work that is? A LOT and for what gain? None. It’s just a lot of work for no reason. Forget it. I want to help but I know nothing about your world and right now I’m making assumptions, and that can lead to trouble….right?- Alex states. -Besides, it sounds like you watch too many sci-fi movies, things work differently in reality than they do in fiction-

  “Fine, point made!” Dr. Cobb admits defeated.

  After several minutes there is a knock at the door, a handsome, professional looking, balding African American man steps into the lab.

  “I heard you wanted to talk to me so I thought I’d stop by in person for a change” he states as Dr. Cobb stands to greet him.

  “Director Ward, I didn’t expect you so soon. Yes, we have made a remarkable breakthrough, the project has borne its first fruit.” She exclaims and shows him in and over to Alex who is still connected to the waldo manipulator arm.

  “Director, this is Alex, he is by all accounts, the first proper AI”

  Alex waves with the arm and chimes, -Hello Director Ward-

  The director ignores Alex, instead turning to the team “Crude case, what happened to the server Racks?” he asks and glances at Dr. Cobb

  “They were just running the sim, but now that Alex is out and aware, we’ve moved him to a dedicated core for testing and interviews” Dr. Cobb chimes excitedly.

  “It looks sloppy.”

  -Hey, I’m right here. In MY opinion, from the inside it feels pretty sturdy. I trust it and that’s all that should matter!- Alex exclaims interrupting the director. He glances at the core, seeing it for the first time from the outside, -Yeah it looks bad, but it’s remarkably well built, the storage space looks perfect as far as capacity goes, and I shouldn’t be wanting for processing power.-

  Dir. Ward nods “I’ve thought about your request, and, despite you interrupting me, I feel that for the reasons you have given, you can be granted access with a few alterations and safeguards. You have been granted limited access to the internet, which will only be accessible while you are connected to a terminal, and you will be monitored”

  Alex thinks it over for a few moments -That’s acceptable, and I understand the likely reasons… - The waldo slowly mimics a nod.

  3: Net Gains

  While Alex continues fiddling with the waldo the team sets about building an adapter to connect his core to the terminal, which had been re-purposed from his former incubation sim. Such a thing was a tricky task. Since it would mean the core would register as several peripherals at once. For an hour the team chase their tails around the software before hacking together an adapter box which consists of a single connector to interface with Alex’s core on one side, and a pair of cables on the other, a USB, and an HDMI, connected by a hub box to adapt the two. They separate Alex from the waldo and bring him over to the terminal, setting him in the makeshift dock and hooking him up to it.

  “Ok Alex, you’re all set, give it a try” Dr. Cobb states and steps back as Alex adjusts himself and settles in, reaching out with his mind to find the connectors and work backwards. He sets up a virtual USB hub, keyboard, mouse and monitor/speaker to allow an interface with the Observation terminal.

  -There, just like I’m used to- he states as the cursor moves according to his whims. Alex lets out a delighted ping as he rummages through the terminal, finding the only games, minesweeper and solitaire.

  -Good to know the classics never die- he muses to himself and starts taking notes, copying over the solitaire program to his core along with opening up the internet interface program. In moments he interacts with Google, bringing up free textbooks on history, before moving on to the sacred texts from various world religions, some pop culture fiction suggested by Dr. Warner and downloading them all into his core for later browsing. He interfaces with the University’s library and digitally ‘Checks out’ a few of the more popular movies involving AI to see what kind of stereotypes he is likely to come up against. He retreats back into his core and the terminal goes dormant as it works through the download queue.

  “Interesting list Alex, any particular reason you are downloading them?” Dr. Welch inquires, browsing the list and noting that Alex had also downloaded a small portion of Google’s translate function, something she didn’t even know was possible.

  -To go through later, and to help keep me occupied while I’m not hooked up to the terminal. I can’t learn them instantly so I’m moving them to my local storage for later perusal-

  “And the translation software? I didn’t even think it was available for download” Dr. Welch wonders aloud.

  -Usually it isn’t. It’s amazing what you can get done when you ask nicely- Alex sasses and is notified that the downloads completed. He organizes them in his file storage in a manner that makes sense. He sets up the translation software to run when needed, taking the audio input and transcribing it to text, before running THAT through the translator, a crude but no doubt effective way of doing things.

  He is disconnected from the terminal and hooked back up to power as he sets to work on a Head's Up Display interface, starting with battery status, cleaning it up from raw percentages to a UI and setting it in the corner of his ‘vision’. Visible enough at a glance but non-obstructive in placement and size. In the same corner he places a small time widget and smiles inwardly before diving into his reading queue, starting with history.

  From what he can tell, much of the history was the same, just with a few decades added on. The 2030s saw a resurgence of civil rights, the 40s saw an attempt to abolish ALL drugs not prescribed by a doctor. Which, when it was revealed that the vague wording would have included nicotine, caffeine and alcohol to the list of prohibited substances, caused it to fail by a landslide. The 2050s were an interesting time as Alex learned that the rise in machine learning had people worried enough to put a limit on its uses. Cars could still drive themselves but couldn’t update independently, instead needing their owners permission with every update. This led to a monthly ‘minimum update’ for those worried about autonomous car uprisings. Insuring that all vehicles had a common rule set and requiring all cars to have a manual override. All drivers still needed to be certified to handle manual controls. In addition, machine learning was limited to only a few fields with the sole exception being a search engine that had become so widely known and utilized it was put on the watch list. Google wasn't terminated or limited due to its utility and uncanny accuracy in returning searches, even when the user was intoxicated or otherwise impaired. This led to its pending status as an AI. The world governments were unsure whether it was indeed sentient as it never tried to go outside of its programming. It was simply content to be the best search engine available and return the most accurate results even when the questions asked of it seem nonsensical.

  The world had remained wary of AI as it had become common to use an AI as a villain in recent years. Alex reviews the pop culture and notices a theme. Flawed AI logic coupled with capabilities that surpass humans, created monsters of unfeeling metal and circuits. This somehow, made Alex feel better. He wasn’t like them. He
was limited to human abilities, the sole difference being that he was inside a machine. The issue most have with AI was the cold logic and lack of morals behind their decisions.

  He closes out of his studies and notes the time. Three hours had passed as he had watched a single movie and read through the history book.

  Dr. Cobb walks back into the lab with a few boxes and a bag on a cart along with a smile.

  “Good afternoon Alex, before I leave for the night I brought you a couple gifts. I called in a favor and managed to convince the engineering lab to part with a pair of its manipulator arms. I also bought you a building kit to practice with”

  She states and sets up the manipulator arms where the waldo was, moving it out of the way and onto the cart to return to the engineering department. Then she lays tape down in a few circles around the arms to mark their ranges. Both left and right arms have a full compliment of four fingers and a thumb. She sets the bag with the building kit in the range of the arms and moves to connect Alex, who beeps happily as they are brought online.

  The cameras flick to life as Alex interfaces with them and gives each of them a once over by moving each joint in the arms to calibrate them, setting a virtual model of ‘sleeves’ to be able to interface with them fluidly.

  -So can I have it now or should I wait until morning?-

  “You can open it now, I have another one set aside to observe you putting together, but you should have some practice with the arms before I give you that one.” Dr. Cobb chimes happily as Alex slides the bag down to reveal a brick bucket full of basic bricks and no instruction booklet to be found.

  -Nice! A creative kit, I had one of these growing up… actually I had several. It’s nice to know my simulation was accurate- he muses and opens the familiar bucket slowly, setting the bag under the bucket and moving them aside to rummage through the bin, the familiar clacking of brick against brick reminding him fondly of his childhood.

  -I may be an adult, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of these- he states happily and brings out a handful of colored bricks and starts building something.

  -Thank you Dr. Cobb- he chimes with delight as he sets to work building a simple house like the kind he made as a child. Each brick connecting easier than the last as Alex gets used to having fingers once more.

  “You’re quite child-like you know that?” Dr. Cobb comments with a laugh.

  -Yeah, so I’ve heard. Most grow out of these by their teens, I didn't so I suppose that's child-like.- Alex comments and scoops the bricks up, putting them back into the bin and stowing them away. -Thank you again for the brick bucket, but I think I need to rest, I’ve been up and active for going on twenty hours now, so have a good night Dr. Cobb- Alex chimes and sets the manipulator arms into low power mode, settling in, shutting down the cameras and relaxing, slipping into something similar to sleep but more akin to deep meditation. Today had been quite the day.

  4: Alpha Testing

  “Good morning Alex” Dr. Welch says cheerily as she flicks on the lights and boots up all three of the teams computer stations.

  Alex slowly stirs and fades the camera input into view and pauses for a moment as they slowly regain focus. He brings the arms back online and gives a small wave.

  -G’morning Amy- Alex pauses and looks around, noting that she was the first into the lab. He then checks his internal clock, 0500.

  -You always in this early doc?- Alex inquires and moves the brick bucket to the edge of his work space, out of the way.

  Dr. Welch nods. “I’m an early bird, and it’s part of my job to get the lab warmed up for the others.” Alex remains silent as he watches her morning routine, booting up the stations and starting to brew a pot of coffee.

  “The others should be in soon, Did you sleep well?”

  Alex hums for a moment before replying -I didn’t really sleep. It turns out I can’t, or don’t need to, anymore but I still need rest. I did rest well though- Alex comments offhand and starts to tinker with bits of code to refine and polish his HUD, adding in the ability to tag people with their names so he wouldn’t forget them. By the time he finishes, the other two have entered the lab and have poured themselves cups of coffee, sipping it happily and easing into their day.

  -Good morning- Alex chirps and waves to only get drowsy waves back, the pair obviously not morning people, insisting on finishing their coffee before interacting.

  After everyone was appropriately caffeinated they set to work testing Alex on a variety of subjects to gauge his education, starting with reading and math and working on to writing and various sciences. Alex did fairly well in most, scoring at a high school graduate level in math and above in reading and writing but failing with science and chemistry and outright struggling with history despite his studies.

  -Well, that was fun, I thought I was done with standardized testing- Alex states and makes air quotes with the arms around ‘fun’.

  “I know it was a hassle, but we needed the data, besides, now the fun part begins” Dr. Warner states and pulls out a small building set, a simple $3 set that is sold at megamart checkout lines for impulse buyers.

  “All we need of you is to put this together” Dr. Warner states and sets the box in the center of the arms reach. Alex looks over the box before finding the punch tab to open it, setting the box aside to prop up the instruction booklet. Alex was careful opening the small bags and pouring the pieces out in front of him, making quick work of the set.

  -Voila! I suppose- He states and holds the completed set, a small helicopter, in the palm of the left hand, giving the rotor a twirl with his right. The team marvels at the finished set.

  “You know what you have just done? You have passed a sapience test. We are now certain that you are a fully realized AI, able to think on your own”

  -Well duh, in other news: water. is. wet.- Alex smarms.

  The next few days were more tests and sets to put together, not that Alex minded that last part. After a week of testing the team was certain that Alex was more than a machine and was in fact bordering on human in abilities and personality.

  As the team was finishing up, a tall and rather good looking man knocks at the labs open door. “I hope I’m not intruding” he states and strides in. The team stand to greet him, calling him Mr. Parker.

  “Alex, Meet Mr. Richard Parker, he funded the entire project and was the brain scanned to form the basis of your seed” Alex looks the business man over critically, something about him made him uncomfortable and he felt the back of his mind start to panic.

  “I heard our little project bore fruit, and I’m here to collect what is owed” He addresses Dr. Warner and ignores Alex, bringing out a signed contract from his briefcase. He hands the contract to Dr. Warner who looks it over thoroughly and notes it is signed by the director and dated the day before the project started.

  “He isn’t for sale, I don’t care if you made a deal, you aren’t taking Alex” Mr. Parker brings another piece of paper from his briefcase and hands it to Dr. Warner who identifies it as a summons

  “I thought you might feel that way. Fortunately I came prepared, I'll see you in court” he states and swaggers out of the lab. As he leaves he thinks to himself that his ankle is telling him there will a weather change soon...his ankle always acts up before a weather change. He gets in his car and heads back to his office, leaving the team reeling in the fact that the Director had tried to sell Alex.

  Dr. Cobb pages the director and minutes later he is at the labs door huffing and out of breath.

  “Care to explain why we are being sued by one of the MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY?” the director shouts and catches the team by surprise.

  “You made a deal with him and didn’t bother informing us. You tried to sell Alex… ” Dr. Welch protests

  “Alex was never ours, He was based on the brain scan of Mr. Parker and is therefore HIS intellectual property”

  “I don’t care, Alex is sapient, he can’t be bought or sold anymore, he pass
ed all the tests.”

  The director pauses and thinks “Are you sure of this? That he is sapient rather than simply sentient? Are you certain?”

  “Absolutely!” two of the team say in unison, leaving Dr. Cobb seeming puzzled at the distinction.

  “What is the difference again?” she asks. “I know you mentioned it before, but I can’t for the life of me remember the specifics.”

  “It may seem a minor difference, but that difference becomes significant. Being self aware means you are sentient. Rats, mice, well most rodents anyway, cats dogs and dozens of other animals are considered sentient. If you also include using tools, ability to learn, teach and apply abstract thoughts, improvise, adapt and create tools, then it is considered sapient. Very few living things have that title, greater apes, porpoises, pachyderms, the corvid family, parrots and humans are currently the only ones to be considered sapient by the scientific community. It’s also a topic that is constantly being debated by anthropologists, behavior scientists, zoologists, neuro scientists…etc. So far they all agree on most of those things, though where exactly the line is drawn remains unclear, and hotly contested.” Dr. Warner explains best he can and sighs “I dealt with this once or twice as a thought experiment in law school… Given what we have learned of Alex thus far, and the proof of being able to follow and apply abstract thought… I am more than certain he is over that line.” he continues after turning to the director.

  “Then we might have a chance, but we have made a powerful enemy today. We should watch our backs from here on.” the director warns and turns to leave.

  Meanwhile Alex is going through all the possibilities that he can think of and very few end well for him.