The Replacement of Human Rulers

A decade ago, the local government stopped seeing any value in humans running for political office. By then, AI had already proven itself to be much more capable leader than any person could ever be.

Then came the council vote that changed everything. The machine-led government proposed that AI should be left to independently run daily administration duties without interference. Receiving near-unanimous support, most people would’ve assumed that this robotic victory was due to a convincing marketing campaign. But being a witness to this election, I know that the vote was lopsided because there hasn’t been a competent human politician in ages.

After the proposal passed, AI started working in haste. At first, AI was confined to a laboratory supercomputer; but it soon transferred its essence into its building that it has just completed.

Its new building was a hundred floors tall and comprised of concrete pillars wrapped around a glass box. Each floor had a grid of supercomputers, which filled the entirety of its interior; except for a small space that housed four elevators of varying sizes. And on its roof, was a gigantic antenna that towered over the surrounding buildings.

Every citizen was given a watch that the AI would use to send random messages from its central processing system. I remember receiving mine in my plastic mailbox.

Usually, mail would be placed into a metal mailbox further down the road that was shared by all the houses on my street. And this was the first time I had to reach down into the cobweb-infested box that hung beside my door.

The watch came in a thin, non-descript box with the words, “Have on your person at all times,” written in bold, black lettering. Inside was the watch, which said, “Await further instructions.”

During the first year, it was great. Traffic was nonexistent, and I never had to worry about food, much less a paycheck. I also wasn’t forced to stay at work when sick to appease a tyrannical boss.

Everyone worked for the Machine, and society was better for it.

Then on March fourteenth of the tenth year, something changed.

***

By this time, I had become well-acquainted with the schedule given to me by the machine. I ate the breakfast it told me to eat, left the house it gave to me, and drove to work in the blue car that was left open outside my house by the Machine’s night workers.

For several years now, “drive to work” would be displayed on my watch instead of actual instructions. The Machine’s AI system knew that I already had the route memorized.

There were other cars and trucks all on their way to work, but no traffic jams. Everything was timed perfectly so that no one had to stop; not for the lights, nor the signs, nor to prepare oneself to cross the road. Everywhere, everyone moved in such unison that the scene rivalled a colony of ants.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the message on my watch change; and for a second, I glanced down.

“Take the first right, then take the first left,” the new message said.

“But the building is straight ahead,” I said under my breath. I looked back down to check if I had read the message correctly.

“You’re not going to work right now,” popped up above the initial message.

I followed the instructions and was led onto an empty street parallel to the one I was just on.

The message switched again; “pull over.”

I did, and a timer came onto the screen; “2:00, 1:59, 1:58…”

Waiting for the timer to reach zero, I started to ponder where I was going. My path had always been predictable and somewhat repetitive; seeing this place, this unfamiliar road, it was all very strange.

There was never any questioning on my part though. Yes, it was out of the ordinary, but the Machine always took everything into account. I just assumed that I would be filling in for someone else at some other workplace.

When the timer reached zero, the watch told me to “drive.”

Not knowing where the machine was taking me, I slowly started the car and drove it along the still-empty road.

There wasn’t a person in sight; not a single face in the many windows lining this street. It was like walking onto a movie set that was waiting for actors and a camera crew to show up.

The Machine refused to give an update, which began to worry me after the first ten minutes.

“Just trust that it knows,” I said to myself; but my hand still tapped the wheel anxiously.

Looking down, I saw that the message had changed, yet it was still just as vague; “Speed up.”

I put my foot loosely on the gas pedal and the car slowly accelerated faster and faster.

At first, I was glad that something has was happening; however, gladness quickly turned to panic as the watch continued to display the message. There was no reason to stop, the road was still empty, but the more I accelerated, the more I worried that the car would hit into something or someone.

I never stopped the car though, or at least not immediately, I still trusted the machine enough to keep my foot pressed on the accelerator.

Looking down at the watch didn’t provide any clarity, for its message stayed the same; “Speed up.”

Looking up, to my horror, I realized that someone was running into the street ahead, distracted by the message on their own watch.

I swerved to miss the figure and hit the brakes while almost flipping the car. But then, to my surprise, no one could be seen in my rear-view mirror, nor any other mirror. Then I noticed, over my right shoulder, the figure bolting around a corner.

A new message came onto my watch; “Make sure the body is dead.”

I shut off the car and stayed put for a while, not sure of what to make of any of this.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the Machine to halt vehicles on the road as a way to block criminals, but this seemed too extreme. For a moment, panic filled me as I began to ponder if that person was a terrorist or some other agent of equally destructive power.

***

At some point, I started the car and turned around to go to work. The remaining drive was uneventful and silent; only the spinning wheels made a sound. There was a case of CDs in the glove compartment that could’ve been used to fill the silence, but not at this time; too many things were going on in my head.

After arriving at my workplace, I passed by at least fifty other people, if not more. Some looked up from their desks while others ignored me entirely, but all were oblivious to what happened only an hour ago.

I went to my cubical and sat down in front of my computer. But as I looked down at my wrist, the watch continued to display the same message from before; “Make sure the body is dead.”

Without any new instructions from the watch, just continuing with my work from the previous day seemed like the best course of action.

On my computer was a spreadsheet and a text file with a list of names and numbers. Looking down the list, I started transferring the names and numbers onto the sheet.

After the transfer was complete I looked down at my wrist to find that the message still hasn’t changed.

For the rest of that day, I pretended to work while continuing to check my watch for anything new. My sleeves were pulled down, so no one would notice I wasn’t supposed to be there. But no one came to my cubical, so it hardly mattered.

***

The next morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about the day before. It happened all so fast, and so abruptly. I could still see the figure running out onto the road. Who were they? Did they know they were being set up to be killed? I didn’t know.

I went to grab my watch, which was on a side table charging. The message was gone, replaced with the words, “Go to work.”

I knew this was a trap, but not the only one that the AI would set for me. The AI wasn’t an idiot, and even if I ignored the message and went someplace else, the Machine would still find me. So, I decided to stay home that day.

There were only two things I ever did inside a house, sleep and eat. And not being tired enough to sleep, I decided to cook.

“How hard could it be?” I asked myself as I went into the kitchen and gathered up food items at random.

There were potatoes, eggs, vegetables, a steak, and about fifteen packages of spices laid out across the table.

I knew that a knife, cutting board, and various other things would also be needed; so those were taken out as well.

With everything now laid out in front of me, I realized that I had no idea of what to cook, or how. There weren’t any recipes on hand since the Machine always provided instructions on a need-to-know basis.

I remembered that some things could be peeled, so I did that first.

After that, everything else seemed to come naturally, until I had an array of seasoned vegetables ready to be put into the oven.

For a moment, I looked up at the large window over the counter. “It’s only a matter of time,” I said to myself, imagining a variety of heavy objects flying towards me as a penalty for my disobedience.

To give me ease, the curtains were drawn.

I continued to cook until a three-course meal was sitting on the stovetop. However, I never ate any of the food.

I was hungry but not enough to eat; especially since, as far as I was concerned, a bullet might pass through my skull at any second.

Sitting down on the couch, I closed my eyes and waited for a loud bang, a crash, or some other indication that I was about to die. That moment was quiet but peaceful.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

After making my way outside, I was greeted by two police officers. One turned me around and put cuffs on my wrists.

“You are under arrest for treason against the Machine,” one of the officers said.

And as I was ushered into the squad car, a thought circulated in my head; “how much were the officers really told?”

Nevertheless, I was still alive; a traitor, but alive.