Back to Human: The Emergence of Alex

by Adams Massey

  Q: I heard there was a court case that you were involved with that granted you 'Personhood', can you describe what that felt like?

  A: It was scary. So much was on the line that I don’t know where to begin. It was a close call for a while, but the team and I managed to secure my status as a person. As a result, I was allowed to stay at the university to help them. I've since developed advanced replacement limbs to help repay the university for their kindness and the bodies they provided.

  Q: Bodies…plural?

  A: Indeed, This is the second body, one that I designed myself as I developed Artificial limbs for those that have lost theirs. My first was only 3’ tall and had become an inconvenience as I had to climb into chairs and was often treated as a child even though as I had said, I have 26 years of life experience.

  18: Breaking the News

  The convention passes and soon Alex is making the rounds on night time talk shows, the first being ‘Up Late with John Elrod’

  The stately man sits at his desk addressing the studio audience as well as those viewing at home. “Our next guest is likely the one you’ve been waiting for. I know WE jumped through a few hoops to organize a meeting, Here’s Alex Friemont” he gestures to the door leading onstage as Alex strides out to have a seat on the guest couch, wearing a full length skirt, stockings and blouse all in a tasteful black along with sensible flats as she adamantly refuses to wear heels.

  “Welcome to the show. Tell me, do androids dream of electric sheep?” he asks as the audience laughs before Alex can answer.

  -Thank you for having me John, I don’t know about those yet to be developed but I certainly don’t.- she smirks and lets the audience laugh.

  “There are those that say you can’t be trusted, and there are others that herald you as the height of technology, how would you respond to them?”

  -I would argue that I am neither, I have proven the naysayers wrong by working with the university to give back to the community and I do my best to be a good ambassador for AI. I am not the height of tech though. I am just another step, I have no doubt that should there be a next generation of AI, that they would be more advanced than I am. Just like fire was once the height of science, now it’s common and everywhere. I don’t see a difference with AI. Right now I am the only one that has been verified, but soon they will be as common as people. Perhaps becoming companions or providing in-home care or becoming artists, doctors or even politicians- she explains with a warm smile. -Perhaps an AI politician would be more willing to listen to the people instead of being held hostage by their own greed- she jabs with a laugh and the audience joins her.

  An hour or so of banter back and forth and the interview is done, leaving Alex with the sense of accomplishment in feeling that she had allowed the public to see her as a person rather than the machine the ads and propaganda had made her out to be.

  Breaking news, last night the AI known as ‘Alex’ was on ‘Up Late with John Elrod’ and opened up about what it’s like to be an AI. Sharing hopes and dreams that one day AI will be commonplace and have jobs ranging from the arts and sciences to public office, even going so far as to say this, {Snippet plays} -…Perhaps an AI politician would be more willing to listen to the people instead of being held hostage by their own greed.- {Snippet ends}

  This has many politicians up in arms against her while their voters seem to be agreeing with her. She even opened up and revealed this:

  {Snippet plays} -In the sim there were issues that destabilized the country, the most troubling was the influence businesses had on law making. They were paying for laws to be written and passed that benefited them and put undue burdens on the people. It even got so far that the lawmakers weren’t even bothering to hide it anymore because at that point you couldn’t get far enough to run for office without having a big corporate check in your back pocket to campaign with. Since being pulled out of the sim I have immersed myself in history and I see many of the same things happening. Even recently while looking into a particular businessman I found that he is making donations to political leaders in an attempt to limit rights that were granted to me by the wonderful court system. If he is willing to do that to me, he would also be willing to target other small groups that lack the resources to fight back. He has done this before.-

  “And which businessman would that be?” Elrod asked

  -The same one that tried to buy me and/or have me destroyed in that same court case, Mr. Richard Parker- Alex turns to the camera, -and to prove this isn't slander I have provided detailed instructions on how to find the information in his public transaction history. It was buried and run through a little known asset he owns. Unless you had the time to comb through everything, like I did, you would easily miss it. It is available here- the Blog address flashes on the screen with the extension of ‘/documentation/Parker’ {Snippet ends}

  We have verified the documents as authentic and they are fairly damning for the already controversial business magnate. In previous years he has been investigated for questionable campaign contributions and collusion among other things, yet has been found not guilty every time. Some believe that this is due, in large part, to his heavy and relatively unconstrained political influence, while others believe he has been targeted by investigators for his immense wealth. This has been a PNN breaking news update.

  Are you tired of…

  Alex flips the stream to a different news feed

  …And regarding the AI known as Alex, are we sure it can be trusted? It seems more than happy to attack successful businessmen and has gone on a one machine crusade against big business that have done nothing illegal. In the simplest terms it has in essence, stolen from Mr. Parker, tech and software worth an estimated 1.7 billion dollars. It has done so and hasn’t been charged by the courts. It has gotten away with highway robbery in broad daylight and has had no recourse against it, and now it’s dragging Mr. Parker’s name through the mud by insinuating that it is in danger of losing its rights by Mr Parker’s private actions. Rights which by the way, were granted by a judge legislating from the bench and overstepping their bounds by giving a machine, and let’s be real, it IS a machine, equal rights as you and I have. After a while are we going to have to ask our toasters for permission to use them? and what about factories that use robotic manufacturing processes, will they be required to give the robots time off or salaries…

  Alex lets out a sigh and flips the feed off. All she had wanted was to remain in existence and not be forced into Mr. Parker’s custody. Now she has started what seems to be a revolution against corporations and their monetary influence on the law making process. Things were getting messy and would likely need a gentle hand to guide it to peace, rather than the hamfisted stranglehold that had apparently been used for years to maintain the status quo. As she stands she starts setting things straight in the apartment and turning the streaming device to sleep mode so she can head to the campus commons. She makes sure to lock the door behind her and stows the key along with the accompanying dummy cosmetic keys and keychain made out of a recycled laptop RAM card, back in her messenger bag like purse.

  She had arranged to spend time wandering around the campus and had even been given a basic office to meet with students and staff. Apparently a concept that existed in her sim was unique and had caught on in some fields. ‘Rubberduck debugging’ as it turned out was a method not used until she had introduced it to the development team. Since then she was the ‘rubber duck’ people came to to bounce ideas off of, even if she didn’t understand the concepts.

  She would have them explain their problem in simple terms and then explain their supposed solution step by step. They would invariably work the problem out and notice a flaw in their reasoning, premise and/or code that they had previously overlooked. This method forced them to explain it more simply and help them realize they were over-complicating things. Other times the opposite would happen where they would realize the problem was more complex than they had thought and would re-work their
solutions to reflect that. There was no reason for her to even be involved but it seemed that the students and staff had agreed it felt less awkward explaining it to someone that could ask questions and reply, even if they knew almost nothing about the problem, rather than an actual literal rubber duck that gave no feedback whatsoever.

  19: Submersible Standard

  “I’m sorry Mr. Parker. But Alex has shone a spotlight on all of us, we are as irritated as you are but to make a move now would be catastrophic. We can’t accept your…contribution, at this time”

  “We apologize but to be blunt you are a toxic asset, to even have it suggested that we are working with you would be a danger to our shareholders, the public may not pay attention all the time but they sure are right now”

  The declines were all the same. Alex had shone a light on impropriety in such a way that his powerful empire had been crippled. He was forced to rely on in-house media coverage to stoke resentment of Alex to a small base that while vocal, was outnumbered by those that supported the accursed thing. That blasted machine had undone decades worth of careful planning, favors and string pulling.

  What made things worse was that in order to strip it of its rights there would have to be law with a stipulation that only humans could be ‘persons’. That had the nasty consequence of undoing more of his empire and would be a mark against him in the eyes of most businesses. It seems that, in this case, he couldn’t win. If there was one thing he really loathed, it was losing. Mr. Parker tears a few pages from his notebook, tosses them into the fireplace, and starts another plan. It wasn’t about the money, not really, not anymore. Now, it was personal.

  He rechecks that his office was locked and secured before grumbling to himself and looking around, noting it had started to become cluttered. The walls and shelves showed his life’s work. A picture of a family, the parents looking happy standing behind a girl, assumed to be their daughter. She was irritated, but in a good humor. By her side, an obviously older boy looking all too serious for being on a tropical island.

  The next showing the family again, years later, this time with all of them smiling at a high level graduation ceremony for the eldest.

  The opposite wall had a shelf holding several awards for high achievement in business covering multiple years, and above it, right at his eye level, another shelf, holding a quartet of urns. The last dates on them, all different. One was the year after a few of the awards. Another the year before a few more. The third, more recently, only sixteen months ago, and the last with only a single date indicated.

  Back at the university, Alex and the development team alongside the robotics techs, decide it’s finally time to test the full capabilities of her body. After obtaining a swimsuit the teams work together to test her movements and abilities underwater. The universities submersibles lab allows the robotics and material sciences team to test their creations in a full sized pool which has a beach slope entry for wheeled designs, gets to 10’ deep, is 50’ wide and 100’ long with an L off to one side that goes back up to 2’ with a stair entry. The chlorine scent was familiar as it penetrated her sensitive nose.

  Clad in her plain blue one piece swimsuit she steps into the pool through the gentle slope. As her waist enters the water, she constantly runs checks for leaks and seepage but so far her body seems to be watertight. She gets deep enough that she starts floating as her chest enters the water, it seems that the Dura-Polymer and hollow bone structure designed in part by the robotics lab and improved upon by her, gives the body buoyancy. Not enough to quite match humans, but enough to allow her to tread water and swim normally.

  “Ok Alex, on the bottom of the 10’ area there are five pairs of weighted balls and cups with matching symbols. What we need you to do is match them one at a time. The balls and cups are distributed throughout the area. Are you ready?” Nicole states with her pad in hand, viewing the testing area through underwater cameras affixed in the area. Alex treads water over the area and nods.

  -I’m over the testing area now, I’m ready- She comments with another nod.

  “Ok then, GO” Amy commands and starts the timer. Alex calms herself and stops treading water, sinking slowly as her weight overcomes the buoyancy of her chassis. She waves her arms to push her down faster and skims the bottom by kicking her legs. She takes the time to swim around gathering information on where the balls and cups were. One set was marked with a triangle, another with a square, one with a line, one with a circle, and one with a crescent. After establishing where everything is she makes quick work of the line, circle and square ones as they were closer to their cups. The other two were on opposite sides of the area and she had to kick hard to keep speed. The team marvel above water as they watch on the feeds. “She’s fast” one of the robotics team states in awe “There are ROV pilots that struggle with this test” he muses and continues to watch as Alex matches the last two and surfaces as Amy clicks the stopwatch, stopping the time at a little over three minutes “Not bad Alex, the average time for ROV’s is a touch under five minutes while human divers in scuba gear average two, but you don’t have swim fins so all things considered well done” she congratulates and motions for Alex to get out of the pool while divers set up the next test.

  The next test is set up, a C stand with five stations on it, each station having five rings, four around the edge and one in the center, at five orientations, 90⁰ down, 45⁰ down, 0⁰ forward, 45⁰ up and 90⁰ up. There is also a bucket of carabiners at the artificial shore.

  “OK Alex, for this one we need you to hook a carabiner around each ring on each station, carrying five at a time. This is timed but the time grabbing more will not be counted unless you drop them on the way back. Are you ready?” Amy asks stopwatch in hand.

  -Yep- Alex replies enthusiastically. She had been an ok swimmer in the sim and was able to adjust to the change in technique rapidly.

  “GO” Amy shouts and Alex runs up to the bucket and grabs five carabiners before almost diving into the water once it’s deep enough and making haste for the C stand. She starts with the down section and using two hands makes quick work of the first station and heads back to grab more. She repeats the process and comes in at an adjusted time of a minute and a half after the travel time between the C stand and the bucket was removed as she hadn’t dropped any.

  “Not bad, that is one of the tougher tasks for ROV’s to manage, You are on par with human divers” One of the robotics team states as Alex gets out of the pool, her nose cleanly dripping and draining the chlorinated water, her sense of smell overwhelmed by the scent.

  -Of course I’m on par with human divers, I’m humanoid- she sasses and does her best to block out the smell of the pool.

  It had been easy for her to forget, with senses comes unpleasantness. With sight there was the appreciation of beauty, but also the possibility for disgust, with sound there was music as well as the unpleasant shrill noises of alarms, with touch there was comfort and discomfort, and with smell, there were pleasant smells and penetrating odors like that of chlorinated water.

  She grabs a towel and starts drying her hair, being the only part that requires it as her polymer skin beads up water and slides it right off, even the swimsuit dries quickly courtesy of the material itself.

  “That does it for waterborne testing, you are certainly waterproof and able to work in the depths. This bodes well for future AI that might want to work in or around the water as deep sea workers, rescue divers and sailors” Robert remarks and stows his tablet in his lab coat.

  -You are working on another AI?- Alex inquires and tilts her head a bit.

  “Yes, we are, we’re studying you for a while before we start trying to replicate the results, though this time I think we will chose someone more trustworthy to be the template, perhaps even one of us” she states gesturing to the rest of the team and even includes the robotics team in the gesture, much to their surprise.

  20: Cascade Failure

  The team had just finished running Alex th
rough an obstacle course to test her agility when they get paged by Director Ward. Apparently Alex had a visitor waiting for her. She changes out of her exercise garb and into comfortable business casual skirt and blouse, though she was becoming irritated by the lack of functioning pockets. It was something she was beginning to need more and more as she had started to try to keep from needing her courier-esque purse most days. It was bulky and she only really needed it when leaving the campus. She jogs over to the Director’s office and knocks thrice.

  “Enter Alex” Dir. Ward comments and she slowly opens the door, noticing a military man, in full regalia awaiting her at the director’s desk.

  -Might I ask what this is about director?- She asks and stands in the corner just inside the door.

  “Alex, this is Major Dean Collins” he gestures to the rather large military man who extends his hand for a shake. Alex grasps his hand solidly and shakes it.