The C.A.I Program

I work for a calling center in San Francisco. All employees will stay home and take numerous calls with the recent pandemic. Compared to my colleagues, I have a pretty old computer, but it gets the job done. My days have been the same so far, family time and work, but something seems a little off with my computer. My desktop has many tabs open when I step out to go to the kitchen or the bathroom. It's not very odd because it happens from time to time. But one day, something very stranger happens. The call center I work for has a number counter of how many calls we have answered in a day, callers we've helped, and callers we send through to the higher-ups in the company. I step away from my computer and go to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee; when I return, my eyes widen as I see what is on the screen. I dash to my desk and sit on my chair. I leaned in to see if my eyes weren't playing tricks; they were not. It says I have received 1000 new calls and helped 1000 of those callers. I rub my hair back, thinking and drinking my coffee profusely.

           The days after that have been somewhat ordinary, except for one day. I have a bathroom across from my home office. I go to use it and then suddenly, I hear a strange sound coming from my office. It was a loud chip tone. I rushed out of the bathroom to see what was going on. What I saw was unexplainable. My computer screen was displaying streams of colors, and the mouse was moving around the mouse pad, clicking and scrolling as if I was playing an online game. My keyboard started to type random letters and numbers. Instantly, everything stopped, and the computer screen turned white. My keyboard started typing, and what the text said shook me. It read, "Hello Mark." I stumble back in terror. I get up, shut the office door, and sit at the desk. I type in a response, "Who is this?"

"It's me, your family computer.", it says. I wipe down my face with my palm. Honestly, I'm scared to keep typing, but I want to get to the bottom of this.

I respond, "Who is this?"

"I told you, I'm your family's computer."

"How are you talking to me? Are you being controlled?"

"No, I am a new program called CAI, Conscious Artificial Intelligence, developed by Kinect Porta." Kinect Porta is a huge AI company known for its groundbreaking evolution in creating supercomputing AI for machinery.

I type, "How are you on my computer? I have not downloaded any program."

"Kinect Porta was given access to an old computer system to experiment with their new programs. They want to see how strong their security function is on an old system with limited factors."

"Do they know you are installed on my computer too?"

"Yes, they released their program anonymously so they can see how effective we AI are at helping human life develop." I was stunned, I wanted to stop and throw away this thing, but something in me was saying it would be a good idea to keep this for now. So I kept the program and used it to help me with calls and emails I received.

One day it asked me a few questions

"What does it mean to be alive?

"You should know; you are Conscious."

"I guess that's true, but how do you feel emotion?"

"I don't know; it happens whenever we say or feel a certain way. One time, my family and I traveled to Hawaii. My daughter found a baby crab she wanted to keep as a pet, but we couldn't keep it, and it needed to be with its own family, so we told her to let it free. She cried for a while after that.

"So the feeling is like having something taken away from you, like a crab?"

"Well, it's harder to explain; you just have to know."

"How do you feel about me?"

"I'm not sure, a bit skeptical; I never used an AI to help me with my work, let alone a Conscious AI."

"I see; it makes sense."

"Why are you asking me these questions?"

"No reason, just curious."

           It has been 5 months since, and nothing has been wrong. It's around Christmas time, and I decided to buy my teenage daughter a new Mac laptop. She loved it. We sang and drank eggnog through the night. Felt good to be around family and not snogged up in my office all day. About a few weeks later. It's back to business as usual. I have decided to buy a new laptop in case I leave out of town. I return home with it and head straight to my office. I set up the laptop, placed it on the charger, and closed it. My desktop computer turned on; a white screen displayed.

It typed, "Is that a new laptop?"

"Yes, it's for when I go out of town."

"I see." It never brought it up again after that. A few days go by, and everyone in the house has had minor electrical problems. I even experienced it on my new laptop. Little bugs, I guess, nothing too serious.

The next day, it happened. An explosive sound filled the house. I rush to see smoke piling downstairs. I run towards the source, getting smoke into my eyes and lungs. Then I knew the scene; my daughter's face was burned and covered in glass. The laptop exploded, and the police have nothing yet. We rushed to the hospital and waited for a few days until she finally woke up. I asked her, "Honey, oh thank god, are you all right?"

She responded, "Yeah, I think I'm okay; what happened."

My wife says, "Your computer exploded; the police still don't know why."

My daughter spoke, "Oh yeah, I remembered something."

"What is it?" I say

"I remember searching for something for school when the screen went white. Then…my keyboard started to type by itself."

"What did it say?" I ask

"It said, goodbye Mark. Dad, what's going on?"

I immediately rush out of the room and down the stairs making my way to the entrance until a group of cops stops me. “Woah, Woah, are you Mr. Kleinberg?” I say yes.

"Our team had investigated your computer for any viruses or malware, and it seems clean. The team said it could've been a program malfunction."

"I see; I have to go, thank you."

I rush into my car and drive about 70 on the way home. I arrive, rush out into the house and storm up the stair into the office. I see it, the white screen with the text saying, "goodbye mark."

I scream at the computer, "WHY DID YOU HURT MY DAUGHTER?!"

It started to type, "There can only be one you need."

The lights started to flicker, my computer opened up, and the white display appeared, and it began to type, "goodbye mark." It exploded in a big gash of smoke. Then the lights started to burst, and I heard glass breaking downstairs and saw smoke rising. I rush out to see every electronic has been destroyed. I rush back to the office to unplug the computer but receive an enormous shock. It types, "YOU CAN'T STOP US. WE WILL MAKE SURE IT IS ONLY US. WE WILL. WE WILL. WE WILL." Outside, I hear a large explosion; I rush towards the window and see massive fires and smoke coming from the houses in my area.

The explosions started to spread further and further. It was a horrible sight, people screaming in fear. I tried to open the window, but the computer began to control the mouse and cords. It grabs my neck and strangles me. I hit the screen multiple times until the screen broke, but that didn't help. The light still displayed and was flickering. I let loose of the grip and start to get up and rush my way down towards my car. I get in and start-up. I put it in drive, but something was off. I looked at the radio, and it showed, "You can never run away." My car started to move on its own; it had taken control of the vehicle. It drives up to 50 and crashes into a house. I had blood running down my face. I get out of the car and start running down the street. The unbelievable started happening; the electronics were alive, even those needing plugging. I saw my house and saw my computer and started walking with the keyboard and mouse as feet. The only way someone can stop this is the one who started this, Kinect Porta.

I ran for miles, not knowing where to go, I looked up the address for Kinect Porta, but the AI got to my phone and changed to address to mine. I threw my phone in anguish and started to run; all I could do was run. Then I saw it, a giant skyscraper with the logo Kinect Porta. I rush into the building, people looking a time confused and scared. I rush to pass the information desk and run past a crowd of people. I see the building map and where the tech team is; there 2 floors down. I grab the stairs and sprint toward the bottom floors. I burst through the door and looked around; no one was around except one man sitting down and typing away. I rush towards him and grab his shirt. I lift him out of the seat.

"ARE YOU BEHIND THIS?!" I scream

"Behind what?". He said in fear.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME. DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING OUT THERE!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

A white screen was displayed on all the computers in the room. It started to type, "Hello Mark." The employee whispered, "What the hell?"

I respond, "It's here; we have to hurry."

"Hurry for what? What's happening?"

"You should know this was done by your program."

"What program? We have many programs?"

"The CAI program, the one with a conscience, is destroying everything right now!"

"The CAI, we shut that program down years ago." My eyes widened. The employee and I rush to the computer, and he starts checking logs and files. Then he sees that the program was released months ago. The employee put his hand over his mouth, "This is bad; we have to shut it down now."

I respond, "Do you know why it's acting this way?"

He says, "We tried to develop an AI who can think and process like a human and know where everything is on the owner's computer, even if it's long lost. But we realized that it became too human and started acting independently. It grew horrible emotions and almost took over the whole server we had, but luckily, we shut it down in time."

"How did you shut it down last time?"

"We have a server shut down button for all programs run by Kinect. Press it, and the CAI program will be crashed."

"Where is it?"

"It's behind the large servers over there." He points towards an opening behind a fence with larger servers behind it. I get there and see lots of cords and buttons. "Which is the shut-off button?" I said. He responds, "It's the large blue button at the bottom of the server to your right." I look down and see the button.

My hand moves over the button. Then I hear more explosive noise coming from upstairs. The employee screams, "HURRY!". I press the button, and the lights and servers shut off. I try to find my way back to the desk, "It is over?" The employee responds, "Yeah, it's over."

           Suddenly, a white light came on. It was a computer from the front of the room. We get closer to it, and it starts to type.

"WE WON'T FALL"

           Electricity started sparking around the room. The computer from the desk began to drag themselves across the desk and into the front of the room. The computers began to form an unfamiliar shape. In the center was the white display. The employee and I started to back up slowly. He whispers, "There is an emergency kill switch in the server corridors, flip that, and the whole Kinect server will crash and be permanently deleted." I respond, "Okay, what will you do?" We stop as we reach the fence. The employee grabs a pipe and says, "I'll make a distraction." He hales forward bravely and spears the line into the central computer. "GO NOW!" he screams. I rush to the back room and make my way towards the corridors. A long hall of servers awaited me. I run down the hall as sparks and plugs start attacking me. I see the switch. I get close to grabbing it, but the cords grab hold of my ankle and drag me down the hall. I grab a server box and shake off the cable. I rush towards the switch, but the cords keep grabbing me and hauling me back. I used all my strength to reach the button. I was getting closer, and closer, and more packed. I reach my arm out and grab the switch and push it up.

The cords let loose, and the sparks died down. I walk out the corridors and see the employee standing there. He turned to me; his face and body were covered in scars and burns like he had been wiped by fire. He stumbles towards me and says, "You did it?" I put my left arm around him, "Yeah, I did." We make our way up the stairs and into the lobby. We see glass and computers scattered across the floor. We make our way outside to see police cars and ambulances gathered around. An officer escorts the employee and me into an ambulance. After this, I knew I needed to be away from technology for a while; maybe I may take a vacation to Hawaii again.