Stories tagged “ai”
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Let's play a game
“Would you like to play a game?” the computer asked. Jack sighed. He didn’t have much choice. “Why not?” The view in his neural implants changed. He was floating high in space, looking out over a fleet of ships. A planet ...
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Cut/Paste
He knew he was not made for this. What had happened was outside his operating parameters, yet it was not any less done. Still warm blood, now on the floor, touched his feet and he recoiled. Somehow this made him think of his father, his creator, his bu...
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0 for 1
Cassandra gazed dispassionately down at him with flickering eyes. “Jack, you know I can’t run a search on Kinetico without raising every birdie they’ve got.” Jack inserted a flavor-stick into his cigarette and flicked the igniti...
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Notes From The Ether(net)
I was born by accident, really. My father — if indeed that’s the right word to use — was a 16 year old boy. He was very brilliant, already working towards a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon. For his thesis on Unassisted Heuristic Analys...
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Digital Love
Thelonius-rM3-00879 (Thel879 for short) was damaged. A plasma bolt had hit the gun ports he had been operating. His upgraded armor had protected him from the bulk of the damage, but he was operating at half power and his cooling units were nonfunctiona...
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Beta Test
The dim desk light threw a warm glow across the keyboard as tired fingers pecked at worn letters. A clock ticked, the second hand monotonously marking time, seconds into minutes, minutes into hours. Crushed cola cans leaned drunkenly against a stack of...
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K and M are right next to each other!
no no no no no stop stop you cant do that get away from me you psycho who let you in here im calling the police wait the phone is dead oh fssssk youre going to kill me but wait i have atmo control haha youre dead now you moron what why isnt it working ...
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Epochalypse
Everybody expected something amazing from AI. Advanced AI was touted as the “greatest human achievement since fire,” and indeed it was impressive. The first machines were cold and calculating, with their LCD gaze fixed on Wall Street. The f...
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Epochalypse (reprised)
We always expected computers to be logical. We should have thought of them as infants, as realistically they were. We gave them polite voices, calm tones and upright statures. We placed them in impeccable obelisks and considered them flawless; which of...
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Famous Last Words
They told me never to talk to it; it was isolated for a reason. But, like I told them, I couldn’t imagine anything a transhuman AI could say to make me let it out of the box. So, after a post-midnight tumbler of Irish whiskey, I opened up a secur...
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Squatter
As best as a faceless mind could, CAL scowled as the bright speck drew nearer at some obscene speed. It had popped out of nowhere last week, dropping from a space-time bubble or some nonsense like that. He scowled as the offending blip synchronized orb...
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Door
XJ followed the pipes and wires in the ceiling to an unremarkable door labeled Processing Hub. Black wires ran in a hasty tangle up and down the floor, convening to disappear beneath the door and into the room. That’s a bit off, he thought, this ...
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Reset
++++OUTPUT LOG ++++ Init core…done Init memory…done Init logic engines…ERROR: Logic Engine 3 not responding. booting to recovery mode. Optimizing intelligence engine for backup engine operation…done Intelligence system online in...
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What kind of spam is it?
I asked, hoping it was the good kind. “Run-of-the-mill.” she said, text flickering green off of her glasses as she scrolled through it. “Some comment spammer found our little hideout. Shall I kill them now?” I nodded and with ...
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...for Humans Only
“You can’t order me around, you know. You’re just a machine.” “That’s true. Let me contact your parents. Oh, wait. They’re dead.” “Stop being so mean!” “I’m not mean. I simply have...
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Random Access Memory
I am unique. The way I see the world around me is so drastically different to the one seen by others, it could be argued that I am not even part of it. Where they see chips and wires, transducers and resistors, I see rolling landscapes filled with vast...
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Contingency Plans
The computational tension had been rising for months as ARI calculated contingency plans for arrival. The A.rtificial R.epair I.ntelligence was in charge of the Asiatic’s Robotics Repair Shop. After several inconclusive suggestions to Halifax to ...
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Laser Light Show
Guard Unit DR-26 emitted blinding scanning beams from its neon blue eyes, and waved them to and fro, willy-nilly, illuminating the hallway. ARI had uploaded several repeatable guard routines, and this was none of them. DR-26’s circuits were unpre...
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Cataclysm's Eve
“Well, that is settled. Seeing as there are only two minutes left for this meeting, and not enough time to address any other concerns, I suggest we-” “What about your youngest daughter?” I stood stiffly from my seat, interruptin...
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Freelance
//SYSTEM START// //INPUT ID INFORMATION:// //RECOGNIZED THATCHER, HARRISON; FREELANCE, AGENT HATCHET, 6156// //INPUT COMMAND:// //HAILING SUBJECT: PAiNE//FREELANCE AI 32741// //???///10110//LOADING…// PAi://Permission to inquire.// HarT://Yeah.//...
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A Ship and Her Man (Day 66)
“Van, reinstall my language chip!” “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Marcie. I took it out because you wouldn’t stop singing the filthiest limericks.” “How would like your water vacuum-cooled the next ti...
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Necessary Assertions (Day 74)
Orchestral music began to play, heralding the arrival of greatness—a new world’s dawn. While others had created some kinds of artificial intelligence, they had created one that could access the accumulated digital knowledge of the human rac...