Brainbender
Page 7
Drapoff nodded and disappeared.
Meyer looked at his wristwatch. “I have another meeting to attend. I’ll need you to stay for a while, until we know what you’ve brought us. Please follow me.” He rose and led them from his office to an interrogation room containing one table with heavy steel rings to secure prisoners and several chairs. He pointed to the chairs. “Please sit. You’ll be here for a while, unattended and able to relax.”
William thought, At least he didn’t chain us to the table. He nodded at Meyer, who tuned and walked out.
Betsy sat and frowned at William. As the door shut, she said, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
PART 2
CHAPTER 13
Ann Sashakovich’s apartment,
#211, 3950 Louis Road, Palo Alto, CA
September 22, 8:13 a.m.
Cassie had complained about having to wait so long for Ann’s visit. Ann was tired of hearing her mother complain, and as their mutual frustration grew, Ann decided to visit two weeks early.
Ann knew her long weekend with her parents would trap her on the East Coast. She purchased a ticket to fly home early Wednesday. But, she hadn’t even packed yet.
After her last class, Ann rushed back to her apartment and tossed some of her clothing into her spinner suitcase.
Early the next morning, she passed through the security checkpoint and boarded the plane.
She had remained afraid of flying ever since two years ago, when the aircraft she was on to Washington was hacked. If Ann hadn’t been able to hack the aircraft back from the CypherGhost, she would have been one of the over two hundred passengers that perished. For saving all their lives, Ann was arrested by the FBI for hacking just as soon as the aircraft landed.
She found her seat, swallowed a tranquilizer, and was soon asleep. She woke to the squeal of tires hitting a runway. She yawned and fetched her suitcase from the overhead storage. It was time to act her role as dutiful daughter.
Lee met her at the security exit. “Hey, sweetie. How was your flight?”
She yawned. “Five hours of chemically induced nightmares. Where’s mom?”
“She had to start preparing dinner. A large dinner. Your uncle Misha and your grandfather Kiril will be at tomorrow’s dinner. I think she’s totally overwhelmed. She could use your help.”
“Sure. Whatever. How are you?”
“Busy at work. I’m in the analysis section now. Working on Middle East scenarios.”
They drove to the family compound in Lee’s 1952 MG TD roadster. Ann felt the cold wind penetrating the ballooning ragtop. “How much is this antique worth?”
Lee shrugged. “Maybe eight thousand. But I just got it to run. So, no. I’m not selling it.”
The car turned sharply into the compound’s driveway and one of the guards waved at them, then opened the gate. Lee edged the car through the narrow gateway and coasted into the garage. He grabbed her suitcase and she followed him into the house.
Ann sniffed the air. She could smell what she knew was the result of a cook with very little talent. “Mom, can I help you with that?” She pointed to a large stock pot boiling on the stove.
Cassie turned and removed her oven mitt. She rushed across the kitchen and hugged Ann. “Ah, the conquering heroine returns home. How I’ve missed you.”
They smiled at each other. Ann picked up the oven mitt. “What should I be doing?”
Cassie seemed to study the kitchen. She turned off all the burners on the stove. “Nothing. We’ll cook later. Tell me all about your semester.”
“We completed staffing the AI project, but we’re behind schedule and it’s beginning to put us all in a bad mood. We’re trying to get the prototype to work, but so far, no love. Dave tells me to be patient. My grades are okay, considering that I’ve spent almost half my available hours on the contest. And, now I see what Glen went through trying to run a team. God, it’s hard work.”
Cassie nodded. “Leading and managing are polar-opposite skills. Are you a leader or a manager? Few are good at both.”
Ann shrugged. “Not really a leader. I seem to be able to manage, and most of my team is better at both than I am at either.”
Cassie flashed a look of concern. “Pick one and find a mentor. That’s my advice. But don’t expect yourself to become effective without failure. Glen learned his lessons by taking his lumps. You might need to, too.”
Ann shivered with the knowledge that running a team could be so painful. She had a lot to learn that her professors couldn’t teach her.
Cassie had already set the table for dinner. Lee and Kiril walked in, talking about the roadster. Ann took a seat and poured wine for all four of them.
Kiril asked, “What have you learned this semester, little one?”
Ann told him about the AI contest.
Kiril asked, “Do you think AI is dangerous?”
“I’m not sure. I think if we encode a morality and ethics subroutine into the AI, it could be helpful, not a threat.”
Lee passed a tray of vegetables to Ann. “Your mom took almost two hours prepping these.”
Ann nodded and plucked a portion of string beans in garlic sauce from the tray. “Thanks.”
Misha shook his head. “Russia will buy, not develop.”
Lee said, “Misha, every country with ambitions of power is developing AI weapons. So, I believe you’re right. AI is dangerous. Maybe Ann’s plan to inject morality into their code might work. But when it takes the humanity out of killing, there’s no way to control what the end product does. Robots will never have second thoughts about what they do.”
Cassie stopped chewing a piece of Beef Wellington. “I’ve been thinking about this for nearly a month. My opinion is that it’s too early to tell how AI will change the world. But, by the time we know, it’ll be too late to change what we’ve done.”
Ann thought about that for a while. She thought, Cassie is right.
* * *
It rained all morning during their long train trip to Manhattan. Cassie read Ann’s business plan and offered her a critique. “It’s good. Not great. You need to show your enthusiasm in every section of the plan, but especially in the executive summary. If that section doesn’t engage your investor, they won’t read any further. What you have here isn’t compelling. The old saying is, ‘Will the dogs eat the dogfood?’ Yours won’t.”
Ann pulled the plan from Cassie’s hands and read her executive summary. She sighed. “Mom, it’s giving me shivers to think about the contest. It might not even be possible to create sentient AIs, given the current state of technology. The time constraints of the contest are like a brick wall and we’re all running at light speed towards it. All I do every day is put out fires. Worst of all, I’m not convinced what I’m doing will be a boon to the world.”
Cassie’s face wrinkled in confusion. “If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, why are you trying to sell it? If you aren’t a believer, you can’t expect any potential investor to believe in it either.”
Ann sat in her seat motionless, her mouth hanging open. She whispered, “Fuck.” Then she picked her notebook computer from her backpack and opened the business plan file. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as Cassie watched.
Cassie read over her shoulder. She smiled. “Good. Very good.”
It took two hours for the train to cross into New Jersey and another hour for it to chug into Newark. The orange sky was a sign of pollution, not sunset. The aroma of effluent petrochemical gasses seeped into their car and the two women shifted in discomfort. When at last the train entered the tunnel into Manhattan, Ann closed the lid on her notebook, hoping the work she’d done would help her find the investors she sorely needed.
They caught a taxi outside Penn Station and Ann stared at the new construction in Manhattan since she’d left the island six years ago. Washington Square was brown with fallen leaves and bare trees. She thought, what a difference between the East Coast and the West Coast. But, all the time they sat in their taxi, mire
d in the traffic, she found herself fearing her presentation. I’m not really ready. She found herself biting her fingernails.
They left the taxi at the corner of West 4th Street and LaGuardia Place. Cassie led them up the stairs to the Stern Business School’s main building. Ann stopped in front of the circular windows that fronted the doorway. The building was a formidable fortress of granite, glass, and steel. She felt a sense of awe.
Cassie pointed to the revolving doors. “Come on. I’m glad I anticipated the heavy traffic. We’re just a bit early. Maybe I can make a few introductions for you before it’s time for your presentation.” Ann watched as Cassie drew herself up to her full height and assumed a more confident pose.
She followed Cassie into the auditorium. It was only half filled, mostly with men, all wearing dark blue suits, white shirts, and dark, patterned neckties. She felt out-of-place and wanted to shrink away.
Cassie faced her and pointed to a tall, willowy blond. “There’s Dr. Longstein. Come and I’ll introduce you.” She led Ann to the woman who seemed the essence of middle-aged elegance. Longstein wore a dark-blue pantsuit that seemed to match the exact color of the men’s suits.
“Blanche, this is my daughter, Ann.”
Dr. Longstein smiled at Ann. “Welcome, Ann. You’ll be up fifth.”
Cassie scanned the room and took Ann’s hand. “I know three of the angels.” She walked over to a man about Cassie’s own age. “Steven, this is my daughter, Ann. She’ll be presenting an AI project today. Ann, this is Steven Goldman, one of the principals at Angel Vision.”
Ann smiled and shook his extended hand. She tried to assume an attitude of confidence, but it felt false.
She watched the first four presenters as they went through their time on the podium. She saw the angels take notes on their cells. When it was her time, she plugged her notebook into the lectern’s HDMI port and adjusted the height of the microphone so it was inches away from her face. “Good afternoon, angels. My name is Ann Sashakovich and I’m the daughter of Cassandra Sashakovich, one of your members. I’m CEO of a project, as yet unnamed and unincorporated, to produce the first sentient AI. Our product is aimed at the military, and our first milestone will be to win the DARPA Sentient AI contest, currently underway.” She pointed to the screen, with an organization chart showing the photos and titles of each of her cofounders. “Each member of my team is a junior at Stanford University. So, I’ll spend a few minutes going over our team and then I’d like to show you our plans to win this contest, which comes with much of the funding we’ll need to bring the product to market.” She opened the next slide…
* * *
Cassie and Ann stood on the platform in Penn Station, waiting for the train back to Washington, DC. Ann felt the heat wafting off the tracks, hoping it would distract her from the disappointment she felt from her performance at the Angel Club. She was haunted, remembering that during her presentation, she didn’t see any of the angels take notes. She was sure that she’d failed.
When they took their seats, Cassie said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll get some interest.”
Ann shrugged. “At least it was good practice.” They heard her cellphone chime. “That was fast.” Ann drew her cell from her pocket and opened the email app. She and Cassie read the note that had just arrived.
Dear Ann,
Thanks for your presentation this afternoon.
Sorry, but it’s not for us.
Sincerely,
Steven Goldman
Principal, Angel Vision
Ann stared into her mother’s eyes. “They’re all going to send me notes like that one.” She wiped her eyes.
Cassie nodded. “Perhaps. But don’t give up hope yet.”
And as the train pulled into Union Station, Ann received the last of the thirty-six emails from NYU’s Angel Club. But this one was longer and had several attachments:
Dear Ann,
Thanks for your presentation this afternoon. We at Gorilla Startups are interested in having you present to our full board of directors meeting tomorrow, at 2 pm. If it’s inconvenient for you to be present, we can arrange the presentation using Google Hangouts. Attached you will find some documents we’d like you to review and sign, and instructions for using Hangouts should you want to present to us that way.
Sincerely,
Arnold Bruce
Partner, Gorilla Startups
Cassie hugged Ann. “So, I guess you’d better get started learning how to use Hangouts.”
Ann’s mouth hung open once again, but she smiled. “Wow. And, I’ve used Hangouts before, so no worry.”
* * *
The next day, Ann smiled as she greeted her grandfather and her uncle at the door to the compound. Cassie ended up cooking some adequate courses, including Beef Wellington, home fries, cornbread stuffing, and a massive cherry cobbler. Ann drank too much Chardonnay, celebrating her Hangouts presentation to Gorilla Startups. She had answered the potential investors’ questions with brutal honesty, and yet, just an hour after, they sent her an email containing an acceptance letter and more forms to review, sign, and mail back. When the evening ended, she slept in the bed she’d used while in high school. No nightmares.
* * *
As the airplane touched down at SFO two days later, Ann felt happy. A full seed round. Don’t know I managed that. She couldn’t wait to tell her cofounders at the next meeting, scheduled for tomorrow.
* * *
Dave Nordman sat in his dorm room, thinking. What to do? What if she wants nothing to do with me? Oh, fuck me. I have to try. He keyed the number he’d hacked from Laura Hunter’s Facebook page into his cell. He heard it ring twice.
“Hello?”
“Laura, it’s Dave Nordman. I work with your roommate Ann on the DARPA project.”
“Yeah. I remember seeing you at Ann’s meetings. Ann’s in New York. She’ll be home tomorrow.”
“I’m not calling for Ann. I’d like to ask you out for dinner.”
“Me?”
There was silence on the line that seemed to last forever. Dave thought, this was a bad idea. He was about to end the call when…
“So, Dave. Where do you want to take me?”
He swallowed, realizing his mouth was so dry that it was difficult to speak. His voice felt ragged as he said, “What kind of food do you like?”
“Surprise me. I’m free tomorrow night.”
He felt a surge of fear. “Great. Can I pick you up at your place at seven?”
“Sure. I’ll be waiting.”
CHAPTER 14
Cecil H. Green Library,
557 Escondido Mall, Stanford University, CA
September 26, 8:09 a.m.
Dave Nordman sat at alone in one of the library’s small conference rooms and stared at his wristwatch. He smiled at the thought of last night. Laura seemed to be easily entertained. He hoped she’d enjoyed the night as much as he had. Sure, there had only been a goodnight kiss at the end, but so what? He hoped for more.
Outside, the day was warm and bright, but the room’s door had been closed before he arrived and it was chilly where he sat.
He expected his team leaders to arrive soon for their daily status update and his fingers tapped the oak table as he reran his agenda for the umpteenth time.
Gradually, the five data specialists and programmers arrived. He pointed to the chairs and they took the seats around him.
Each one he’d hired had a different discipline in IT. He looked at Harry Schofield and nodded. Harry managed a small team in database management. Harry pulled a few pages from his backpack. “We’re on track, and on schedule. No problems.”
Then Dave’s gaze shifted to Gary McHahn. His group was composed of Python programmers. Gary merely nodded back. “Me too.”
Stuart Ley smiled at Dave. Stuart’s group consisted of C++ programmers. But then, Stuart looked away, a bad sign. Didn’t people look away when they wanted to conceal something, or even worse, lie?
&nbs
p; Sandra Elmont frowned at Dave. She headed her group of Tensor specialists. Sandra pulled a pen from her pocket and a pad from her attaché case. “I found a problem in the code Stuart is using to populate the database. Actually, three bugs.” She ripped the first page of the pad off and handed it to Stuart.
Stuart read the page and his face turned red. “Crap. You could have sent this to me in an email instead of telling the entire team.”
Sandra shrugged. “I just found them fifteen minutes ago.”
Dave said, “Relax. Just fix the problem.”
When Dave looked at Walter Graves, Walter merely shrugged. His group was systems analysis. Dave considered Walter the easiest one to manage. Walter was so easygoing. “No problems and we’re also on schedule.”
As the meeting ended, Dave thought that overall, they were on track to meet their schedules for producing their pieces of a functional prototype.
After he ended their brief meeting, Dave reported back to Ann via email, He included the first flowchart of the planned functions for the AI they intended to build. He also included a list of functions with a tiny bit of description:
Macro
Micro
Language
Input modules:
cam
Python
Mic
Python
Text and news docs
C++
Output:
Speech
C++
Image recognition
Tensor
Figure/Ground Understanding
Python
Processes:
Analysis
Systems Analysis
Altering real reality
Tensor
Feedback and adjustments
Systems Analysis
Self-recoding and code
optimization
JavaScript
He thought of adding two more columns, one for required hours and another for ETA, but he wasn’t ready yet to wade through the hours of discussion and argument necessary to forge an agreement with each of his programmers and analysts. Dave pondered the language column of the chart for a long time. He wondered if the AI could really be taught to recode itself? If it could, it would save calendar days, maybe even calendar months of time. He set about researching how they could do this.