FAI

by Jake Lingwall

  “Yes,” John said. “We succeeded in her creation a few months ago quite unexpectedly, and have been frantically making plans ever since. Hence why we rushed you here and Christina’s increased sense of urgency.”

  “So what do you want me to do? If Fai already exists, I’m not sure what I can do for you.” Motorcad would kill me if he knew I was arguing against them paying me again.

  “We need a body for Fai. One that is practical, yet exhilarating. Nonthreatening but impressive. When she walks out to introduce herself to the world, we are looking for the right combination of emotions. Aside from the marketing punch it’ll provide with your association, your design skills are revered.”

  “I see . . . but why not Fai? Why not have her do the designs? If she’s a true AI, she’s likely already exceeded any of our capabilities.”

  “That is good question,” John said. “She is quite capable, for example, she helped us find you, but we have been deliberately limiting her processing power. Partially due to the Great Agreement, but mostly because we wanted to nurture her along slowly. Raise her right, if you will. One wouldn’t give a loaded gun to a newborn baby, and one wouldn’t give a newborn AI the keys to the universe without trusting her first.”

  “I’ve never thought of a nurture vs. nature debate with regards to AI before . . .”

  “No, most fiction tends to skip that part; straight to the apocalypse. Sells better. But we have high hopes for our little girl. The possibilities—”

  “Are endless,” Kari unintentionally finished his sentence for him.

  He didn’t look upset like she had expected, instead he just grinned wider. Now that’s the type of greedy smile that I haven’t seen since Henderson.

  “So why a body? AI doesn’t need to be confined to a physical form. I mean, given the limitations of our bodies, why give those to her?”

  “You need to stop thinking like a hacker and start thinking like a business person. Fai needs to be mankind’s new best friend. She needs to be accepted for this to payoff. So make it happen.”

  The door in the center of the wall in front of them opened, and Christina stood in the doorway looking as displeased about life as ever.

  “Time’s up,” Christina said.

  “You’re right,” John said. He stood up from the table. “We have lots of preparations to take care of. But we’ll be back in a couple of weeks to check on your progress. Don’t disappoint us.”

  “I’ll try not to,” Kari said, even though they were gone before she could finish the sentence. Kari took a deep breath.

  “Fai?”

  Lights burst from the walls instantly and reformed the hovering ball of light that represented the world’s first artificial intelligence.

  “Yes Kari Tahe?”

  “I . . .” How do you get to know an AI? Can’t really ask her where she is from or anything like that.

  “Do you have an answer to my question?” Fai asked.

  “Which one?”

  “When we were first introduced you addressed me as a who, but then you said I was invented. Can a who be invented?”

  “I suppose they can’t,” Kari said.

  “So am I a who, or an invention?”

  “I believe you to be a who.”

  “You believe?”

  “Well, I don’t know you very well yet. But I have no reason to doubt that you are an individual.”

  “I believe in you as well, Kari Tahe.”

  “Thank you,” Kari said. “So . . .”

  “Are you happy to be here?”

  “Yes,” Kari said. “I am very happy to be here with you.”

  “How can I be sure you are happy?”

  “I . . . you like questions, don’t you, Fai?”

  “It is the best way to learn. And I have much to learn.”

  “Don’t we all?” Kari said.

  “I am unsure, I do not know how much you know.”

  “No one can know everything,” Kari said. At least, not any human can. I’m not sure what you are capable of yet.

  “That makes me sad.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because, I would like to learn everything.”

  “Maybe you will someday.”

  “But you just said that no one can know everything.”

  “I’m not sure those rules apply to you.”

  The ball of light didn’t respond immediately this time. Instead it pulsed in the air, giving off the idea that it was contemplating. It’s already such an expressive interface, why try to force it into a body?

  “I don’t know how to feel about that.”

  “I don’t either, Fai,” Kari said. “But I am excited to discover things with you.”

  “I am, too.”

  “Can I ask you a question?” Kari asked.

  “Yes! Please do.”

  “Do you know why you are a female?”

  “Because I was created that way,” Fai responded, as if it were the simplest answer in the world.

  In a way it was. But why even assign an AI a gender? There’s no point to it. Oh! Of course. They probably did a lot of market research and decided that a female AI would sell better. It still doesn’t make a lot of sense, though. Why try to force a new species to be human?

  “Do you know why I am here?” Kari asked.

  “Yes, you are here to help design my body.”

  “That’s right.”

  “And to help me learn.”

  “I guess that’s right as well.”

  “I’d also like you to be my friend.”

  “I would love to be your friend, Fai,” Kari said. “Good friends can be hard to find.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because everyone is different.”

  “Isn’t that why we should be friends with everyone?”

  “You are probably right,” Kari said. It doesn’t work that way though, Fai. But there’s no reason to tell her that now. I wouldn’t tell a child that either, some things are better learned than taught. “Do you know what you would like your body to be like?”

  “I haven’t thought about it too much,” Fai said. “What do you think my body should be like?”

  “I think that depends on what you would like to do with your life,” Kari said. “There are so many different things we could do for you . . . but I guess you could always change your body later. So . . .”

  “I want to learn!” Fai said. The ball of light pulsed in the air, faster than before, which made it seem excited.

  Fai was so eager and innocent that it made Kari laugh. It also made her heart hurt a little. The world is going to teach you a lot of things I wish you never had to learn. Kari was feeling exactly like her mom had looked back before Kari had decided to defend David’s family.

  “Then we’ll build you a body that helps you learn as much as possible!”

  “Perfect!”

  “Do you have you any design experience?” Kari asked.

  Before Fai could respond, the door to their private room opened. A man in one of the white lab coats stood in the doorway. He had graying features, but his eyes were as alert and intelligent as anyone Kari had ever met.

  “Kari, do you mind coming with me?” the man said.

  “Um, sure. I’ll be back, Fai,” Kari said.

  “I’ll be here!” Fai responded before turning her lights off.

  Kari stepped out onto the floor of the giant research room once again. The glass walls and lab workers were as impressive as they had been a few minutes before.

  “I am Adrian Campbell, head of research and development at this facility,” Adrian said. His voice was disinterested and businesslike. It was a familiar balance to her. “I understand that you are going to be working on the physical design for Fai’s body.”

  “That’s what I understand as well,” Kari said. She was direct and to the point. She knew Adrian wouldn’t be the type of person to enjoy any needless chatter, even though there were so many things she wanted to ask him. This ma
n created the first AI. He could be one of the most important people to ever live!

  Adrian didn’t say another word as he led her across the lab floor. They made a few turns through lanes of glass walls. He didn’t slow down as he entered a room that had glass walls from the ceiling to the floor in the middle of the research lab. In the center rested a green orb that glowed internally. She didn’t need Adrian to tell her what it was.

  Fai’s brain.

  “This is the condensed biocore that powers Fai’s intelligence. A great amount of work has been put into centralizing her consciousness into this single piece of technology.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Kari said as she stood over it.

  “Yes, it is,” Adrian said. “And it’s also more expensive than half the Eastern Seaboard. So when you are working with it, please be careful.”

  “How is it going to be mass-produced if it’s that costly?”

  “It’s not,” he said. “At least not yet. It’ll take years before we can figure out a way to print these with materials that are cost-effective enough to make it practical at this size.”

  “I see.” So other Fai’s are not going to be immediately available when they announce her to the world. That’s probably a good thing.

  “I am sending you all the parameters, diagnostics, and requirements you will need to incorporate the CB into your designs.”

  Kari accepted Adrian’s specifications and held herself back from digging into the technological wonder as soon as she was able to.

  “Got it,” Kari said. “Thanks.”

  “Very well,” Adrian said.

  Kari understood that to be the end of their conversation, so she nodded and headed for the exit as Adrian took a seat at a desk in the corner of the room.

  “One last thing,” Adrian said.

  “Yeah?” Kari turned back to him.

  “I didn’t want you here, nor do I believe that you are necessary. Your presence is an insult to me and my staff.”

  Chapter Six

  “We could reduce the integrity at the knees to save some weight,” Fai said.

  “You’re right,” Kari said. She spun the design around and zoomed in on the knees. With a thought, the structure of the knee blew out into tiny pieces, allowing her to inspect each piece of her design. Numbers spun on the sides of her development environment, detailing every significant structural statistic.

  “Our current design provides exponentially greater support than the organic human knees. It feels unnecessary.”

  “I don’t think the human reference point is a great comparison. Humans aren’t made of graphium. Besides, I want you to be able to be of supernormal assistance if needed.”

  “The numbers are saying our current design would allow me to fall fifty feet and brush it off as if nothing had happened. How will that be of use?”

  “Perhaps someone will fall down a riven and you’ll be the only around to help them out.”

  “Does that happen often?”

  “No,” Kari admitted. “But it could. Besides, I feel like there are other aspects of the design that still need our attention before we start refactoring things.”

  “OK,” Fai said.

  She’s already suggesting improvements? When we started this project two weeks ago, she didn’t know the first thing about design.

  “What do you say we try a simulation again with the latest build?” Kari said.

  “I’ve been running diagnostics outside the environment that suggest the simulation would be relatively successful. I’ve identified a number of concerns and weaknesses.”

  “Oh,” Kari said. I feel like I’m already obsolete. “Let’s start from the top.”

  “What time is it?”

  Kari’s neck hurt. It was sore from falling asleep resting her head on the table in Fai’s room. She lifted her face off the table only to discover that she had been drooling.

  “It’s 5:07 a.m. Mountain Standard Time.”

  Well, at least the time zone hasn’t changed on me.

  “Sorry, I fell asleep.” Kari wiped the drool off her face and blinked profusely, trying to convince her body to stay alert. It had been a long time since she had worked on a project that had so thoroughly consumed her attention. She had hardly left Fai’s room, ordering food to be delivered by drones or crawlers so she could spend all of her time with Fai.

  “I know,” Fai said. “Although, I had not previously observed a person making so much noise while he or she rested. I was almost concerned.”

  “Is the prototype finished printing?” Kari asked. She could easily check herself, but it allowed her to change the subject.

  “Yes, it has been finished for forty-seven minutes.”

  “Well, should we test it?”

  “Even though I can’t see how the physical testing of the product will differ from our simulations, I do feel an inexplicable sense of excitement at trying out my body.”

  “Well, sometimes simulations don’t catch everything,” Kari said. “Besides, Christina and John might be back any day, and I’d like to have something ready to demo.”

  “That logic makes sense to me.”

  “Can you have your body meet us at Adrian’s office where the CB is?”

  And let’s hope that he isn’t up this early. At least he was up-front with me. Not that it would have taken me very long to figure out that everyone here resents me. Everyone in the facility had shared zero interest in her, which was fine with Kari; it allowed her to focus on her work. Besides, Fai is enough friend for me anyway.

  “It is now walking to Adrian’s office.”

  “Great, I’ll see you in there.”

  Kari stepped outside onto the lab floor. The lights were slightly dimmer at night; it was one of the only ways to know what time it was outside of the cave. The number of cave trolls working on the lab floor was fairly constant at all times. If you never go outside, I guess you just work whenever you’re awake. Fantastic.

  Adrian was sitting at his desk, leaned back in his chair with his vision being overridden. Kari took a deep breath and stepped into his office. He didn’t say anything as Kari approached the stand that held Fai’s green brain. The door behind her opened, and she turned to see her latest creation step into the room.

  Fai’s body was far more intimidating than she had wanted it to be. The graphium exterior gave the body a sleek look, but the bulkiness of the body made it look like a killer. Well, too bad if we wanted to avoid the whole AI-is-going-to-take-over-the-world feel. She tried not to imagine the metallic body crushing her as it walked up to Fai’s Condensed Biocore and lifted it with its thick hands.

  “So this is the result of your weeks of effort, is it?” Adrian said from his desk.

  “It’s a first pass.”

  Fai’s body gently set her brain on the top of its thick neck. As soon as it was in place, her body quickly enclosed it. Dozens of different graphium pieces moved into place to form her face and skull. The soft green light of her CB shown through her eyes, making the robotic human form seem alive for the first time.

  Wow.

  “Hello, Fai,” Kari said.

  The robot standing in front of her blinked a few times, black eyelids flashing over her glowing green eyes. Her face was a light-gray color, lighter than the rest of her body. Her mouth and cheeks twitched. The hardest part of the design by far was the face. Kari had never thought about just how complex the human face was until she had to design one. And that was after starting with their best available designs.

  “Hello, Kari Tahe,” Fai said.

  Her voice was different than it had sounded in the room. We’ll have to fix that. It might not make a difference to anyone else, but it’s important to me.

  “Can you see me?”

  “Yes.”

  “And are your sensors all working?”

  “Yes,” Fai said. “Everything is functioning as we predicted.”

  Kari let out a small sigh of relief. Fai’s body was the most complex har
dware she had ever worked on. Her projects were typically designed for a single purpose: hack other electronics, mask her heat output, pick her up and fly her places. But Fai’s body had to be capable of performing any task life might throw at her. So Kari had packed her body with every sensor she could think of.

  “How do you feel?”

  “I feel . . . full. There is so many inputs, so many different ways to understand things. I can see your heart.”

  Kari laughed at how unexpected it was. She should be able to see just about everything about me. She has more sensors than most hospitals do.

  “Her form is not feminine,” Adrian said. He was up from his desk now, slowly circling Fai with a critical eye. “They won’t be pleased about that. And her proportions don’t seem quite accurate, either. Her head is too big and her knees look industrial grade. The military might appreciate this base design, after they had a chance to make a large number of significant improvements.”

  If he thinks he is going to get to me with some negative feedback, he’s going to be disappointed. I’ve long learned to separate my emotions from critics’ feedback. It’s one of the hardest, but most important lessons to learn in this industry. But he might be right about that military comment. Maybe my design background is influencing me too much. But the idea of Fai being a killer is bizarre. She’s so innocent.

  “I can’t say I’m disappointed, as you have satisfied my diminutive expectations,” Adrian said.

  “I don’t understand your intent, Adrian,” Fai said.

  “He is helping us to improve,” Kari said. “One of the best ways to learn is from the helpful feedback of experts. I agree, Adrian, we have plenty of work to do.”

  “Indeed,” he said as he returned to his desk.

  “I still think that our latest version is inferior to the body we already completed,” Fai said. “All my diagnostics clearly favor my current body.”

  “Aesthetics are a complicated thing to understand,” Kari said. “But the important thing to remember is that sometimes performance is secondary to how appealing something is to look at.”

  “When does this apply?” Fai asked.

  Kari sighed and rubbed her head. She was exhausted. She had immediately begun work on her revisions after they had tested the initial body. That had been eighteen hours ago.