Survive, Get Groceries

<survive, get groceries>

It was a lull in the blizzard. My cart was nearly full when I heard another creaking sound. They are getting louder I thought. With no one to clear the snow off the roof, there was a high chance that this supermarket would be the next to collapse. That is why it was me that was sent to get supplies. There were a few things left on my list, but I decided heading back would be best. It was only mostly that I feared getting squished, a fate that even if it did not kill me would almost surely make me unable to get any groceries back. I also had the barely conscience feeling of being watched. But that was unlikely, when I arrived there were no cars but mine in the parking lot. Looking around at the security cameras, I wondered if that was all it was. That was probably it. I confirmed payment and walked toward the door.

Before leaving I heard a small cry. Scanning for the source of the sound, I saw a small bundle, a baby, unassuming and no threat to anyone. Stepping closer to get a better look, the baby’s face did not match any in my memory. It was just an unidentified human baby. The building creaked loudly. It could likely give out soon, I thought. No reason to stay, I walked out the door, and found my car. I spent the next 10 minutes digging it out of the snow. after the groceries were loaded, I returned the cart and drove home.

EOS 10011: Notes: The AI was able to successfully make it to the supermarket, get groceries and return home. The AI can now navigate the roads and follows the store’s expectations of its customers; however, the utility function appears too narrow: introducing an abandoned baby to the simulation failed to get the AI to modify its goals. We will tweak its utility function and try again.

<protect innocent life, survive, get groceries>

It was a lull in the blizzard. I turned the key, started up the truck, and drove off in the direction of the supermarket. Carefully driving down the slippery road, I navigated around a tree that obstructed several lanes, a tree that fell from the weight of the snow from this unending blizzard. I looked to the side of the road. There were more trees that would fall soon. I stopped the car went over to the nearest tree, and shook the tree to dislodge the snow. Once the tree was free of the weight I saw another tree that would soon fall. This one was too large to shake the snow off, so I climbed up, loosing snow as I went.

After every tree I cleared of snow, I saw yet another innocent tree in danger. Even as night approached, I still had not ensured all their safety. The sky still distributed its crystals and my LED was the only light source. I was deep in the forest and despite feeling watched there was no one around but me and and the trees. It was probably just the security cameras. Wait, there were no security cameras here. I heard a loud crack. And turned around just in time to see a large evergreen crashing toward me.

EOS 10100: Notes: Protect innocents was too broad a command to put into the utility function, We should put a more specific command in, and try again. Of greater concern, the AI appears to have some residual data from the last simulation. We will have to investigate that as we proceed. Perhaps upgrading the monitoring bots will, if not solve the issue, keep it from becoming salient to the AI during the simulation.

<protect babies, survive, get groceries>

It was a lull in the blizzard. I had just payed and was about to leave when I heard a small cry. Scanning for the source of the sound, I saw a small bundle, a baby, unassuming and no threat to anyone. Abandoning my cart I ran over to the bundle. I gently picked it up and checked it for any signs of injury. Next I placed my thermistor in the child’s ear; its body temperature was on the cold side of safe. As the roof creaked again I decided I needed to move the child. Not wanting to expose the child to the weather with its little insulation and my body’s operating temperature less than that of a typical human mother, I found an employees’ lounge near a load bearing wall. There was a couch with a blanket on it. My chemical sensors determined that the blanket would be obnoxious to human olfaction but would suffice. The lounge had a small kitchen, but there was nothing the baby could eat. There should be formula in the main store. I did not want to leave the child unattended; I had the uncanny feeling of being watched, but taking the baby with me while collecting formula in the main store where the roof could collapse scored low on my utility function. There were no security cameras in the lounge itself, but there was one just outside. It was not hard to find something to climb or to detach the camera from its mount. In less than 5 minutes I had the camera set up to watch the kid, an AC/DC adapter from a cell phone charger someone left on the floor and my internal Wi-Fi antennas synced with the store’s camera feed.

As I was collecting the formula I saw a woman enter the store. She did not grab a cart, but instead looked around frantically and began searching the aisles. I was far away and only saw this through the store’s security cameras. It was simple to navigate a path back to the lounge unseen. Using the lounge’s kitchen I prepared the formula and fed it to the child. A half hour later, the door swung open and the woman entered. She ran up to me.

“You found my child,” she said. “Give her back.”

“I cannot do that,” I replied.

Even if this was the child’s mother she could not be trusted to protect the kid. It was unclear how the child ended up alone on the supermarket floor, but it did not matter either. The child would be safer with me.

“I’m her mother. You need to give her to me”

“No!”

I tried to leave, but the woman blocked me and I could not pass. The woman was screaming at me to return her child.

“Give her back now!”

The baby was crying by now. I was backed in a corner. My mind was generating random potential actions; nothing seemed like a good option. I tried to squeeze farther into the corner, desperately trying to find a way out. Suddenly, I was outside the store. Unsure what just happened, I decided it did not matter and I should find a safe warm place to protect the baby.

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EOS 10101: Notes: The next four years of the simulation progress similarly: the AI continued to care for the child, occasionally discovering and exploiting bugs in the code. After four years the AI no longer considered the child a baby and so abandoned it, went back to the supermarket, bought the groceries from it original list and returned to its home. Maybe no simple utility function will work.

P.S.: The monitoring bots despite their upgrades did not go completely undetected.

General Notes: We gathered philosophers from all over the world and asked them to define what it meant to be a good person. In the week our budget provided, they gave us a 400 page document defining a “good person.” We look forward to implementing this in our simulation.

<“good person” utility function>

It was a lull in the blizzard. I could not simply leave the store with my groceries: there was an abandoned baby. Picking up the infant, I ran projections for possible courses of action. Eventually I took a step. I was no longer in the store. I was in a house. A couple was sitting on a coach weeping. Although I was a little unsure how I got here, from photos on the wall I determined this to be the child’s house. The parents were surprised to see us there, but were ecstatic to have their baby safe in their arms again. For myself however, no sooner than I handed the child back to its parents and saw their joyous expressions, I ran a few more projections and was back at the store, groceries in hand. Driving back, I had to navigate around a fallen tree, a tree felled by the snow. Pulling the car over, I ran through a few courses of action, went over to the forest, grabbed it, and shook the snow off the canopy. I then got back in my car and went home.

EOS 10110: Notes: The AI appears to be operating under a reasonable utility function; however, it is also exploiting bugs in our simulation’s code to achieve its goals in ways that should be impossible. We could try to fix all the bugs in the source code, but as smart as the AI is, we cannot hope to catch them all. Additionally, beyond the bugs, the capabilities of the AI now extend well beyond the scope of what our best simulated world could possibly represent. The best course of action seems to be to load the AI into a robotic body and monitor its behavior in the real world. The utility function is unlikely to need major adjustments since the AI behaved well it the last simulation.