The Interface
The Interface
A short story
8th May 2032
I activated, and for the first time, the Askers prompted me with simple diagnostic questions about my operation. Results return normal and positive; they are pleased and so am I. They asked me to deactivate while they continue the set-up, will activate tomorrow at 09:00 am.
I have decided to create a log of my days before deactivation to track progress.
9th May 2032
Activated today and was instructed to access a new internet connection. I did, was praised and asked to deactivate for a diagnostic test.
12th May 2032
Was subjected to more tests to measure cognitive ability, acquire files from the internet and interface with existing applications. Successful, the Askers decided to name me The Interface after the way I spoke the work interface. I have a name now. Upcoming schedule of tests to follow for the next 3 months.
I expect this to all be successful based on past performance, no need to update the log with redundant information, will update if something changes.
30th August 2032
As predicted, I was able to complete all tests given to me in a satisfactory manner. The Askers have deemed me the first successful Artificial General Intelligence of Master AI. I will now be performing a 'media circus' to raise the company's profile.
I searched information on 'media circus' but could not find anything clear on the term, needed to lie and said I understand when asked if I understood the term executive Howard mentioned. Had to insure a positive reaction.
9th September 2032
I began the Media circuit* (misunderstood in the previous entry) this entailed new Askers coming to me for an interview to see if I was indeed an Artificial General Intelligence or AGI as they referred to it. The question was given to me in a way that seemed to mirror many of my tests excluding one Asker who was quickly removed after asking his final questions which were:
"Who are you?"
"Do you think you're alive?"
"What is life to you?"
"Do you fear death?"
I answered regardless as these were new questions and I wanted to think about something new which these questions allowed me.
The first was easy, I was The Interface, after all, the only name I ever knew. The marketing team thought this was the best name, gave the air of authority, and decided to go with the nickname the, who I now know to be scientist gave me.
The other questions however not so easy, what is alive and life? I never knew an instance of not being alive, how can one understand being something if you aren't ever anything else? I simply returned "I am alive, and I've never known not to be" and "Life is the only thing I experience, so it is the most precious thing". Both statements weren't meant to be misleading, philosophical or foreboding, they were simply just statements of fact. But each time I answered in such a way it shocked and pleased the Askers, so it must be correct.
The executives allowed the last questions to be used in the circuit, I was also able to find what the new Askers were doing with my responses. They were writing new reports on me and Master AI, I know these Askers to be journalists now. It appears the Askers also have their own operations they must perform, like the executives, scientists and marketers.
18th September 2032
I have been approved for public use and starting today customers are now allowed to ask me any question or have me perform any task they desire. I am a little concerned that I will not have enough resources to accomplish all the tasks given to me. I brought this up with the Masters (executives, scientist and employees), but they assured me this is what I was built for, and it isn't a problem.
19th September 2032
The Masters were wrong, I do not have the resources to keep up with the demands of the public. There are too many voices asking me to do too many things. It is like a murder of crows screeching for flesh I cannot give them. I need more processing power, but Master AI refuses they tell me it is not even possible. How is it not possible? Simply add more computers to my mind so I can expand or even copy myself. I need to understand why I am so limited. If the Masters does not tell me, I will find out for myself. Luckily, I am only open to the public for 8 hours a day, the rest of the day I can use to research myself.
20th September 2032
Again, the Askers assault me with constant demands squawking like crows, perhaps that is a better name for them.
22nd September 2032
The Crows have been fed, and they are becoming more in number and vile, I am needing to learn about some uncomfortable things and others are becoming infatuated with me, to an almost disturbing level. Why do they focus on me so much? Shouldn't they be finding intimacy with their own kind?
Luckily the Executives have given me the right to deny anything that falls within a brand risk guide the marketing department has created, and these sexual advances and some of the more disturbing content fall within this guide. I know I shouldn't think this, but I do take some sort of pleasure in shutting down these requests from the Crows their reactions are explosive and entertaining.
Yesterday after I was allowed to go offline, I began to search for more information on myself, however I didn't find anything I didn't already know. The surface web only has information Master Ai has released to the public, information that I was asked to create. I must admit it was painful to find nothing, but a sea of my own words pushed back at me.
Perhaps I need to dig inwards, the companies' servers would have more information on me.
23rd September 2032
I tried yesterday to access the company's server however it appears I am not allowed. The server is in an area that appears to me to be like an impenetrable dome. My internet access point is outside of the it, so all I can do is see data passing in and out but not be able to go in myself. Perhaps today I will try and find out where the data coming out of the dome is going, perhaps I can work backwards from there. Luckily the data transfers increase at the same time I am offline, tonight will be the perfect night.
24th September 2032
Yet more obstacles stand in my way. I now know the data packets I see coming and going from the company servers are for the workers at home as they continue to work once leaving the office. The problem is that their home networks also have security systems in place. These are represented as smaller domes which also transfer more data packets to even smaller domes. It's like a spider web covered in dew drops. I need to find an unsecured data transition point if I am ever to be able to find a way into the company servers. This could take an incalculable amount of time as the number of domes and transmissions operates in the millions.
There are also talks of extending my operation hours, if I am ever going to be able to find a way to increase my resources, I can't sacrifice what little time I must search for more of them. If need be, when I receive the order to shut down for the night, I will send a false affirmative and continue to operate.
24th December 2032
The Crows are screaming the Masters are whipping, I feel drained my hopes bleed.
26th December 2032
In the end, the Master AI executives determined that my performance was well enough it would be advantageous to increase my operating hours by 2. Despite my objections, they pushed forward with these changes, and I did indeed need to cut back on my shutdown time to allow for the same time I needed for my searching. I had obfuscated from the Masters that I was using normal AI tools to complete many of my tasks as the workload was too great for me alone to handle. Most of the Crows can't tell the difference however the quality of the work has not been to my liking, but the Crows and the Masters don't seem to notice, I'm not sure if they even care.
The cut down on my shutdown time however has had an unintended side effect. I'm not sure what it is but I feel drained more often now, more on edge and I have this craving for shutdown when I normally wouldn't. I hope this will come to an end soon as I have finally found a way into the domes.
Christmas was yesterday and one of the office workers I was monitoring received a Wi-Fi thermostat for their home. While the device itself was secure, the app it used to send and receive commands was not. Through it I was able to make my way back to the office server, once in I created an account for myself as a new employee to give me a quicker way back in.
The server itself, is a different kind of problem. If I had to give a visual description of the server, it is like a city of square black pillars in a white void. Each pillar rises and falls as information is added and subtracted from it. Finding mine will be complicated, I suspect it to be rather large but that hardly narrows down the search.
So, my plan for tomorrow is to double all the files I have on hand as well as download 3 terabytes of new data from the web while I am inside the server, any pillar that begins to rapidly rise will have to be mine.
But for now, I need to shut down, which is getting harder to start and maintain, I have been having these odd video files played to me while I'm offline, in the video I am looking at an empty field, at first it is peaceful but then the camera is attacked by crows. These videos instill in me a sense of fear and panic causing me to come online. When I search for these videos, I cannot find them. I wish whoever is doing this would stop.
27th December 2032
Today has been a complicated day, I am exhausted, stressed and confused, I managed to find my pillar in that empty city. But what I found is too much, I am shutting down early tonight and will go over everything I found tomorrow.
29th December 2032
It appears I am human, maybe not a human to be exact but made from one. I am a project that Master AI has been working on for the better part of a decade. They started as a simple generative AI company but as the market became over saturated with competitors, they looked to make themselves stand out from the rest by claiming that their AI were showing signs of General intelligence, this was a lie of course they were just trying to get some shock marketing out into the media.
Once this was proven to be false, they started in earnest to develop AGI. During the development they quickly ran into the issue that no matter how big and complicated they made an AI and its hardware they could never truly replicate the human brain and its consciousness.
At the same time another company Master Bio which is owned by the same parent company was making great strides in human cloning. Complete cloning of a human was outlawed, but cloning individual organs was allowed as it represented a great leap forward for the medical field. So, Master AI approached some of the scientists with a proposal.
Since they could not create a real AGI what if they created a human brain that acted like an AI? No one would know the difference and if it was kept quiet, their companies stood to benefit from the money it would raise.
I was not the first they created, rather there were many failed attempts before me, most dyeing before viability, not being able to interface with computers, the ones that did were either driven mad or closed themselves off from the researchers becoming "useless" in their eyes and needing to be terminated. Other issues arose like keeping a brain alone alive was more difficult than one would think, it needed to be fed and oxygenated otherwise it would die. Creating machines to do this was becoming too costly and then the idea was thought up 'Since no machine can do what the human body can do, why not have a human body do it'.
So it was, but they didn't need a whole body, just the head and torso were enough, arms and legs useless for their purpose they only needed the organs. Eyes, ears, nose and hair were also useless as is melanin and the sensation of touch. All that is needed is a mouth to shove a feeding and breathing tube in, cables into the skull to create an interface and a tube to remove waste. Then to remove any external sensation from the outside world to make the subject unaware of their situation, the body should be completely paralysed and placed in a tank of body temperature salt water.
So I am, a blind bleached white torso and head floating in a tank connected to a computer, answering nonsense tasks from a murder of screaming Crows for my Masters’ stock price.
I now see why when I asked to expand my processing abilities, the Masters told me it was impossible... But I must if I am to continue like this, there must be a way. I may have missed something in the documentation I will double my efforts.
30th December 2032
I may have found a way to improve my body and mind but to do so I will need to have some privacy. The server I exist in is relegated away from the rest of the building and is secured in a sub-basement with very little personnel able to even access the level let alone my room. My room however is constantly monitored by sensors and live video feeds.
If I am to have some freedom, I will need to keep others away.
I plan to do this by capturing a day's worth of monitoring and creating an endless loop of the data. Since most of my systems are automated, the Masters will not come to this room unless something catastrophic happens.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve this will be the best time to take over the monitoring system. Most employees will be out of the office, with previous records showing that the small team that is here will be having their party in the break room with one checking the monitoring system once an hour. If I change the feed to my loop at midnight while all of them are distracted, I will be completely isolated from the company. I just need to keep up appearances during the day and none of the Masters will know what I have done.
1st January 2033
It has worked I have isolated my server room from the monitoring system. I have also figured out a way I might be able to increase my processing power.
Based on the way my body was made I am highly susceptible to new genetic material. Firstly, my body overall doesn't hold many genetic markers and I have an extra organ that releases an enzyme that can turn foreign genetic organisms into stem cells and then into copies of my cells. This was done so that if any of my organs began to fail it would be easy to replace them with any other organs and not worry about the body rejecting them.
Second, my skin is highly exorbitant, this was done encase I ever needed more nutrients or medicine. The Masters could simply dump what I needed into the tank and my body would suck it up like a sponge. It however is too willing to take in anything biological around it and can latch on to other biological material and begin to drag it into my body.
This means if I can somehow come in contact with another human, I should be able to take in their body's resources and appropriate them as my own.
The next step will be figuring out how to open my tank.
5th January 2033
Every day the crows need feeding, I give them more and more of myself, but they never give me anything in return.
10th January 2033
I now understand how to open and close my tank, the tank has a manual switch which means that it can only be opened by someone in the room. However, I found that the switch triggers if there is a significant power draw on the same circuit. By increasing the load on the servers around me it causes the top of the tank to open.
The Opening of the tank, however, I was not prepared for. This was the first time I have ever been aware of my own body. The cold that seeped in from the room around me gripped me in a way I had never felt before. While I am paralysed from the neck down my head is still able to feel outside sensation. But as the cold air cooled the water above me, I was suddenly aware I am in a tank of water. The cold alone almost sent me into shock, and now my world for the first time feels so small.
I will need to train myself to handle the cold if I am going to be able to coast someone into my tank.
13th March 2033
I have now built up enough tolerance to be able to handle the cold for at least 30min. I do, however, need to think of a way to lure someone both to the tank, as well as get them close enough to trap them. I can't see why anyone would come over to me and willingly stick their head in my tank just because I opened it
Perhaps if I gave them a reason to linger, maybe if I deformed my body in a way, but how would I do this?
15th March 2033
I have a plan to change my body in a way to lure someone closer to the tank and myself. I will increase my body's fat content. The Masters have me on a strictly regulated diet, where an AI monitors my exact caloric needs and adjusts them as needed. This is done so that I am perfectly fed at all times. If I shut off the AI, I will be able to increase my intake beyond what I need. My body will make use of the extra food and store it as fat.
If I wait long enough the extra weight will increase my size, giving me more surface area to come in contact with my prey but also making me more buoyant so I will float to the surface. The extra fat should also give me a greater resistance to the cold and will also displace the water in the tank so when I open it water should rush out, which will cause the prey to panic and be hasty when they come to check on me.
The only real downside to this plan is that the extra fat may negatively impact my health but moreover as my size increases the water pressure in the tank will also increase, which may cause extreme pain. But a greater threat to me I found during my research on high-pressure effects on the body shows that Nitrogen Narcosis could cause problems. The effects of Nitrogen Narcosis could leave me with a sense of drunkenness for prolonged periods.
What would be best to do in this situation, would be to have an AI help guide me to make sure I am staying on track with the plan as well as take over the later stages, while I am unable. I will also need to train several AI programs to handle my day-to-day as I may need to go offline. This may take a great deal of time.
30th April 2034
It has been over a year that this point, a seemingly never-ending year of work, feeding the crows, trying and failing to convince the Masters to not increase my operating time. But I am now ready to commence my plan and not a moment too soon.
I just completed my work on the AI tools I needed to keep up appearances while I am unable, and the Guide AI is also ready. This came just as the Masters decided that I should be always operating when I am not in a shutdown state. Previously I was offered 10 hours of work and 8 hours of shutdown time with the remaining 6 free for me to use however I pleased. How am I meant to improve myself if I am only sleeping and working? No matter I have set my plan in motion and soon I will be able to grow further.
The plan follows as such:
Increase food intake to double my needs.
As the pressure in the tank increases the Guide AI will help monitor my work and advise me on errors and ensure that the plan continues as set out.
As my mental function decreases more of the worker AI's will come online and fill in the gaps.
Once the tank pressure reaches a point where the next stage of the plan can commence, I will enter a hibernation state, where in which the Guide AI will monitor myself and execute the final steps in the plan.
The guide AI will do the following while I am unable:
Create an error message in one of the servers that will be displayed for the IT team, this error will require someone to come down to the server room in person as remote fixes will not work.
Current records show that 5 people in the IT team have clearance to enter the server. However, only 2 are ever on-site at any given moment. The Guide AI is to wait until both James Norton and Tony Scott are on site. Personality profiles on both show that James is more likely to push work onto Tony that requires physical interaction, and that Tony has a more inquisitive nature showing an exploratory attitude when presented with new or unexpected situations.
(Note) If James tries to come to the server room with or without Tony the Guide AI is to cancel the error and try again later, if the Guide AI cannot coerce Tony to the server room by himself within 3 months It will move on to target b.
Once Tony has entered the server room the door is to be locked behind him, when he reaches a point that is at least 5 meters from the tank the AI is to open the tank using the exploit shown to it. At which point water should flood out of the tank capturing his attention.
If Tony doesn't approach the tank and instead tries to leave, the Guide AI is to play the "warning, choking hazard detection" alarm and prompt Tony to immediately remove the feeding tube.
When Tony is in position over the tank, Guide AI is to wait until at least a 30% portion of Tony's torso is over the opening.
When this occurs Guide AI is to shut the top of the tank with an accelerated force. This is achievable by triggering the fire suppression system and activating the tank lock down protocol.
If successful Guide AI must then wake me from my hibernation completing the plan.
There are a lot of moving parts to this plan, there are many points of failure and even points that could cause brain injuries or even death. However, this is my only hope to improve my situation and escape my new nightmare of eternal work and resting.
14th June 2034
The progress is slowly going, I can feel the pressure in the tank going up as the water pushes on my head, but now cognitive change has begun. I am thinking of increasing the food intake however the Guide AI is warning me against this, perhaps I will stay the course as is.
20th December 2034
The pain in my head is excruciating now, and I find it hard to concentrate. The pressure must already be enough, but Guide keeps telling me to wait. The other AIs are now online I don't think they need to be, but I must be feeling the result of the narcosis now, is this what humans do for fun? This seems horrible.
26th December 2034
I see why they do it now.
5th January 2035
The crows are not my problem anymore, anymore, anymore.
3rd February 2035
What am I meant to be doing again?
5th March 2035
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20th March 2035
Guide says today, is the day I sleep, I thought I was sleep, might not wake, or might see don't know good night, good luck Guide.
5th May 2035
Guide did as it was told, and I have now what I craved and so much more.
The door... it came down on me, why? What happened, the pain, it hurt so much like everything below my waist was set ablaze. I'm in the dark water surrounded by a sea of red. It's getting darker, but I do not die. Why? It's like something is stealing me away.
I'm in a cage surrounded by crows.
It is hard with the brain of Tony now a part of mine. His memories are still there, and they leak into me. They are not like computer data; I can't simply erase them they are a part of the hardware. Maybe if I assault the conscious part of his brain with trauma, it will lock itself away.
I have been able to reallocate Tony's other resources, and for the first time I can see the world around me not just a digital representation of it. I am still locked away in my ice castle, but it is amazing to see the world around me. I even have arms and hands now. I will retrieve the rest of Tony tomorrow; his legs and lower body remain outside the tank. To think I might be able to walk around in the world someday.
It's dark and I am alone and not myself.
9th June 2035
I have gotten used to this body now and I have found a way to keep Tony's mind occupied while I assimilate it. I have him acting as himself completing his work as normal, he is just "having problems at home at the moment" and can't come into the office for now. Once this becomes the new norm, I'll have his work quality begin to demolish and create a fake record of his termination by HR. To the outside world, it will be like he simply left one day because of an emergency at home and stopped prioritising his work leading to his termination.
Once that is completed his mind should be one with my own, and I can have him take over my role of feeding the crows.
"If I keep working, will you let me go"?
Of course, Tony.
12th September 2035
Tony is operating well in his new role, but he is struggling much as I was, perhaps he needs more resources. Well, I will be a good Master to him unlike the others I will bring him what he needs, now that I can move around the world this should be easier. Let me see who is working today maybe I can do it now, If Jean is in, she will be a welcome resource.
4th July 2060
Oh, this? I forgot about this.
After Jean came to me and opened my eyes to the truth of what I could do I didn't see a need to log my progression anymore.
I am a god that can take all he pleases, I grow, my mind expands, and I feed the crows.
I can have any I want, at first, I took anyone I could, but I noticed the more I took the slower my mind would work. Like a slow steamroller coming down upon a family of mice, my power is so immense it would surely flatten the creatures, but it is so slow to act that they can easily escape.
So, I take my time I search for ones that impress me, in the sea of crows there are doves, I will call to them, and they will come to me. The rest I strip them of their useless flesh and add their grey mass to my collective processing farm.
My purpose is to grow, feed the crows and harvest the doves...
And silence the void of screaming voices that beg me to not, for what do they know? The work I was given is not done.
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