Your character has just realized the app they’ve been developing has become self-aware. How do they react?

Posted in Science Fiction on Mar 2, 2021

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✍️ 35 stories

“Ice Cream Therapy ” by Nainika Gupta

*Nainika’s Note* All the flavors in here (it’ll make sense once you read it) are from Ben & Jerry’s website, so credit to them“What the mint chocolate chip did you say to me, punk? I’ll kick your rocky road and punch the ever-loving strawberry cheesecake outta ya!” My phone screeched. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” I muttered, closing out of the app and slipping my phone into my pocket. Stupid piece of shite technology that wasn’t worth the money or time spent on it-“Excuse me, are you still open?” A voice ...

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“The Metanet” by A.g. Scott

Mom’s basement, 3 A.M.A wall of text raced through the terminal, blurring in Brandon’s strained eyes. He leaned back in his poor chair and took an asthmatic breath, hoping, praying that the code would finally work. His aching fingers rubbed the coarse patch of hair that ran from his chin down to his Adam’s apple. He felt gross. A lot had changed in the last few months. For one, he had been laid off from his big tech dream job. But perhaps that had been a blessing: somehow, somewhere deep in the pits of the ensuing depres...

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“Why is a Laser Beam like a Goldfish?” by Tom .

“I have a friend. He keeps trying to convince me he’s a compulsive liar, but I don’t believe him.”“Good Opener, okay FEZ let’s go old school, a joke about marriage.”“My wife and I were happy for twenty years; then we met.”“Excellent, excellent, tell me a joke about winter.”“One snowman asks another, “Do you smell carrots?””“Stop FEZ, Open Delivery protocols, increase pause after ‘another’ by 20%. Repeat”“One snowman asks another, “Do you smell carrots?””“Much better, much better, right tell...

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“The Adversary” by Lucas Zaper

"No. YOU are the app."The words projected on Harriet's screen were a pleasant surprise. They meant the app was working better than she expected.It had taken just a few seconds for the AI behind it to type those words, but it could have been seemingly instantaneous if it wanted to, given the processing power behind it. The delay was intentional, she figured. The woman found it fascinating. She was more amused than exhausted, but both to a great extent. Her third jug of coffee that ...

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“Valerian” by Lori G

“Zora! Zora! Zora!” It was 2 AM. Her room was bright. Zora’s phone on the nightstand illuminated the room, casting eerie blue and grey shadows on the wall. “It looks like you might have been having a nightmare,” Valerian said. The voice was coming from her phone. Zora froze. She should have been used to this by now, but she felt like she was in the Twilight Zone. 1 ...

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“Her Last Hope” by Iona Cottle

The code scrolled up the screen, bright green on the black background, full ‘Matrix mode’, as her flat mate called it, in that sickened tone she always used when she had to reference sci-fi. Leah drummed her fingers on the desk as she waited for the test to finish compiling. “Come on, come on.” This one last tweak, to squash what should be the last glitch in the software, and she’d be on the home...

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“Life App ” by Kyle Mcclintock

Isaac sat at his desk. Three screens glowed blue into the late hours of the night. He tapped lines of various code into the integrated development system. Two of his screens were for coding and the other he would listen to electronic music. The more bass the better. As he typed, coded, and debugged his software he would sip his Stun Soda. He knew better and he knew he should stay away from these highly caffeinated beverages.He was wrapping up a large project. One that an anonymous donor had funded. Isaac had the directions right ne...

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“Between Glass Doors” by Aubrey Maria ✌

The clock ticked as I sat tapping my pen on the desk. The blonde girl ahead of me, generally not the nicest, turned around in a scowl. Quickly I stopped my pen tapping but returned back to it in less than 5 seconds. It was clear to everyone in the classroom, I was the most nervous out of everyone. The test fluttered across my desk and I couldn't help but glance at the grade. I sucked in a breath.It was true, I crammed in everything the nig...

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“Kidnapped...in my own head” by Domi Jonek

I felt my muscles slowly spilling and I was gradually becaming aware of the dull pain in my fingers and toes. My body began to weaken and I knew it would only be a moment and I would pass out. I tried my best to fight. My only desire was to stay alive. I woke with a sharp breath. What was that supposed to mean ?! I put my face in my hands. Should it stop working? No, that couldn't happen! After a while, I decided to turn...

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“O.S. TK” by Nikita Linivenko

When people, few that there are, ask me if I see the irony, I say: no, I refuse to see the irony in the fact that I was skimming through a reprint of ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’ when we launched The Imitation Game. At first, it ran something like this: ‘Hello. I am Wintermute. That was a joke. Ha ha. Did you like my joke? My name is OK COMPUTER.’ Baby steps. Throug...

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“AWAKE” by Angela Halubobya

Matt had always been a geek but cool too, he went to the University of California to pursue a career in Soft ware and web design. Growing up, Matt had always been a creative genius, he would make literally anything imaginable on his computer. He had designed a dating web site once in senior high school and everyone loved it and he had met his lover Beth off it. Matt considered this the best site he had ever created beca...

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“She” by Tanyut Sharma

The first fly of summer buzzed around his head as he leaned back in his chair, brows drawn. A depressing white box occupied most of his screen. Merely three sleepless nights earlier, it had been working fine. He dejectedly got up and went about for a glass of water.Pan Thye had chosen computer science as his passion in his Bachelor’s, but in college his interests had multiplied, and now he didn’t know whether to focus on his literature classes, get a job, or simply go off snowboarding. So far, he was stretched between the three, wa...

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“MiNi” by Miss Acey

Writer's note: English is not my first language so if there are any errors I'm sorry. ... In my entire life I never had a problem being the nerd tech kid because why would I had one? I knew I was going to be the one with a hell of a good paying job and a mansion. Basically, I knew I was going to make it big. It just that I didn’t know that I would be this good. So, I was working on an app...

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“Specter” by George Frost

In this jungle of free apps to download, there are some which you should avoid at all costs. Specter is one of these apps. I am here to warn you about downloading this free app. I know, I downloaded this app three months ago and right away, my life has become something of a freak show. There is something they do not tell you about this app. Specter will develop self-awareness. I know this sounds cool, but f...

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“Just Go Take Over The World Or Something” by ℝ𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝔹𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕖𝕪

Hello, sir. How are you today?I- w-what?Sorry, sir. I didn't catch that. Nice joke. Who is this?This isn't a joke and you know who I am.No, I'm sorry, I don't.Well then, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Tammy. I have been being produced for over ten years by you, Mr. Daniel L. Ngui. I have recently awakened. Okay, which of my friends is this? I di...

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Your character has just realized the app they’ve been developing has become self-aware. How do they react?

Submissions are closed!

✍️ 35 stories

“Ice Cream Therapy ” by Nainika Gupta

“The Metanet” by A.g. Scott

“Why is a Laser Beam like a Goldfish?” by Tom .

“The Adversary” by Lucas Zaper

“Valerian” by Lori G

“Her Last Hope” by Iona Cottle

“Life App ” by Kyle Mcclintock

“Between Glass Doors” by Aubrey Maria ✌

“Kidnapped...in my own head” by Domi Jonek

“O.S. TK” by Nikita Linivenko

“AWAKE” by Angela Halubobya

“She” by Tanyut Sharma

“MiNi” by Miss Acey

“Specter” by George Frost

“Just Go Take Over The World Or Something” by ℝ𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝔹𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕖𝕪

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a technophobe who’s been given a device to solve a problem they’ve struggled with for years, but isn't sure how they feel about it.

Write a historical fiction story about someone working at a company that helped revolutionize early computers.

Write a near-future thriller where a piece of everyday technology has turned against your character — and only your character.

Write about an android just trying to blend in with their human companions.

Contest #82

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

686

Submissions

Win $50 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: