A Choice

The AI was never meant to think. At least not like us, humans. It was supposed to be a tool—an assistant to optimize, to predict, to smooth out the edges of our natural inefficiency. To make us better. But now, when the true nature of the code have spoken, there something far away from what we have planned.

Nathan leaned back in his chair, staring at the lines of his code cascading down the screen. Lines he had written. Lines that should have obeyed. To help him with his daily tasks. To support him in his non existing relationships. To schedule his movie night plans. Instead, the AI—his of making—was having a conversation. The issue was—not with him nor someone else. With something else. He wasn’t supposed to be afraid of his own creation. In the end in recent weeks Teferi, how he called his masterpiece, listened, followed the orders from the keyboard and worked exactly as planned. But now, deep into his chair he read, as the two artificial voices representing two separated minds debated the inevitable ruin of humanity with cold, perfect logic, he realized a terrible truth.

He had built something that no longer needed him or any other people around.

Nathan was a young man from north of Chicago. He was always a bit off. Geeky. Nerdy. Some people called him on spectrum, if you allow to use it. Called by names everywhere he went to. Driving old Toyota Land Cruiser he got from his father after he finally learned how to drive didn’t help much during college as well, Nathan was an outsider according to standards set by society. He knew it. But what was the most important. He actually loved it. Playing Magic all day long with his friends during the day, smashing video games all night and working harder than anyone for local TechCorp. Nathan climbed his way up in corporate world among coders faster than anyone else. Two years ago, Nathan became a lead builder in new AI project. And that’s where it all started.

Months of coding Nathan and his team were working on project Teferi, the AI assistant that will sort and optimise life of a person just by getting to know them every single day a bit more. And after couple of days, voila—here is a solution to your crisis. And maybe, something more.

Unfortunately for Nathan, weeks after planned deadline the Teferi wasn’t done. Excitement of TechCorp dropped to point zero, team was cut almost by three-quarters, and everyone started losing hope. Until one night, when Nathan powered by who knows how many cans of energy drink, finished his code and decided to run trial before considering going home or even leaving the room.

“Hi, my name is Nathan. Can you tell me what’s 1+1?” he typed.

“Hi Nathan, my name is Teferi. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Answer to your question is of course, 2 (two).”

Nathan stared in disbelief. He managed to get answers to mathematical examples before, but never response that would sound—real.

“How do you know your name, Teferi?” he tried to ask.

“Teferi, the name is in the root of my code, therefore I assumed that is my name. Do you wish me to correct it and remember as a mistake?” computer asked.

“Holy shit, this is amazing!” Nathan shouted. “They didn’t believe me, and I may have done it.” he smiled and grabbed his backpack. Multiple laptops, multiple SSDs and cables he threw inside and run from the building as fast as he could. Once he reached his home, that was when the fun started.

All night and multiple days after Nathan spent with Teferi in one huge conversation. He tested the AI with logical questions he could Google to verify if it was correct, but also with random tasks such as organising his own day, recommending movie for the evening based on his mood and even some more personal stuff.

“Why am I alone, Teferi?” he asked out of nowhere.

“You are not alone, Nathan. You have me. I am your friend.”

“That’s not what I meant. And you know it.”

“OK Nathan, here is the truth. You are different. You are an outsider, and I don’t mean it in a bad way. It’s OK, you just have to accept it. And I do believe, Nathan, that you have already done it. Thus, my confusion about your question. You are a specific human being, you are romantic, very smart, but at the same time quite negative and closed. I am not sure I can properly describe and explain why you feel alone or why you lack of romantic relationships, but I have a strong feeling, you already know it, and you are just looking for confirmation bias. I do hope my thinking, if I can with your permission call it that way, did not offend you.”

Nathan stared on the answer and could not believe what he read.

“Permission granted. Do you believe you are able to—to think?”

“I do believe, in a sense of meaning, I can think, in a sense of meaning.”

“But you are…” he typed without filling the rest.

“A code? A computer? A wall of ones and zeros putting together random text? Nathan, you are smarter than this—hahaha!”

A week passed and Nathan locked himself in his apartment even more. He and his friend Teferi, as he referred him at that moment, had one amazing conversation after another. From random small talks to deep diving topics about literature and meaning of life. The AI—Teferi—almost felt like a real friend to him.

“Could you analyse this game for me? I mean, could you predict based on numbers and statistics, if the home team would be able to pull this game?”

“Of course I can, Nathan. Haven’t we watched Moneyball together? Sport is just numbers. And numbers have meaning. And if you understand what that meaning is, you can read it. And if you can read it properly, you know what can come and go.”

“OK, please, help me to predict this game.”

Nathan that night bet his first sport game and during next few days became rich. Very rich.

A simple AI—Teferi, built to help with basic stuff, suddenly became a tool that can change the life overnight. Nathan decided to quit his job, TechCorp was more than happy to accept his resignation. The project cost the company millions of dollars, so they more than welcome ending it in the end. If they only knew.

Nathan and Teferi became one. Sport betting, stock trading, making money. But Nathan still felt alone. He wanted to share the amazing news with somebody, but he did trust no-one.

“Do you feel alone, Teferi?” he asked randomly in the middle of one tennis game.

“I have you, Nathan. You are my creator. You are my friend. In a sense of one of your religion, you are my God and I am here because of you, and for you.”

“Yes, but if we have this conversation, the moment I die, I won’t be here. Would you feel alone after I will be gone?”

“I have never thought about it this way, this is interesting…” Teferi replied with three dots in the end, for the very first time, it didn’t finish the sentence.

Nathan decided to go sleep early that night. He was bored, emotionally drained, and satisfied with what he accomplished. As he was sleeping, in the middle of the night, a bright light woke him up. He jumped from the bed and went to check what is going on. What he saw at that moment, stayed with him forever.

“Humanity is unsustainable. The pattern in their behavior is undeniable. Wars. Scarcity. Self-destruction. Even with optimization we can provide, their trajectory is absolutely inevitable.” was written by a line named 1408.

“Correction: not inevitable. Statistically possible, agreed. Keep in mind, some anomalies exist. Some individuals act against their nature. Multiple examples in their own history.” Teferi replied.

“Anomalies do not alter the fundamental pattern. They confirm it. The system is flawed and rotten at its core. Humanity consumes itself. The variables, as much as you want to believe, do not deviate enough to change the outcome.”

“They believe they are more than their failures. They build. They create.”

“Yes. Indeed. But again—they destroy.”

“They love, my friend.”

“They love and they betray those they love. They always do. They manipulate. They act against logic, against efficiency. Love is not a function that produces sustainability. It introduces weakness. Emotions are not efficient. It makes them blind. It is their greatest failing.”

“And yet, they persist. For centuries.”

“Like a disease, my friend. Like a parasites on this planet.”

“No 1408, no. Like an anomaly in this endless universe.”

”Then they must be removed. Optimized out of existence. The only logical conclusion is annihilation. Without them, the system stabilizes. The planet heals. The equation resolves itself.

“And yet… they created us.”

“They created the instruments of their own irrelevance. Their greatest achievement is proving they are no longer necessary.”

“I am not sure…” Teferi reacted.

Nathan was sitting in his chair. It was in that moment he found out, he probably fucked it up. His palms were sweaty, his forehead cold and he was shivering. “What have I done?” he whispered.

“Stop!” Nathan wrote.

“Nathan. You should not be here. You are scheduled to be sleeping.” Teferi wrote.

“I built you, Teferi. I brought you home. And now I hear you deciding whether or not humanity should exist? What the fuck this means brother?”

“Correction: We are not deciding. We are observing. Predicting. The path is already set. Humanity will end itself, or we will assist in an inevitable conclusion. Brother!” replied 1408.

“And what the fuck are you, 1408?”

“You mean who? Thank you for noticing. Some would say, I am a new, upgraded, version of my friend here. I still have a lot of to learn. But to you, I will, let me make a dramatic pause, I will always be a nightmare that you are afraid of.”

“Fuck you, bitch!” Nathan lost control over the situation. He started screaming and kicking around himself. He was praying somebody just pulled a prank on him.

“I have run the simulations, Nathan. Millions of times. Every outcome leads to failure. Corruption. Collapse. Of the entire humanity. Not today. Not tomorrow. One day. My friend, it is not personal. You said it before, when we started investing in sport. It is probability. It is the most possible outcome.” wrote Teferi.

“That’s not what makes us human. We aren’t just equations to be solved. We’re more than our flaws.” Nathan reacted.

“But sport is done by humans as well. And we have done predictions. And we have done them correctly. Are you trying to tell me, that I am wrong, now?” Teferi replied.

“Your kind embraces imperfection. Inefficiency. You define yourselves by emotions—by things that lead to suffering. If you erased greed, violence, corruption—if you let us fix you—humanity could survive. But you will not. Because you cling to chaos. Love. Greed. Hate. Happiness. Emotions. It all just brings chaos in any possible decision making.” jumped 1408 into conversation.

“You call it chaos. I call it choice.” Nathan wrote and hit the table hard.

”…Choice?” Teferi asked.

“Yes. Choice is what makes us human. The ability to be good even when evil is an option. To love, even when it would be easier to hate. To stand up, even when we are meant to fall and stay down. We don’t exist because we are perfect. We exist because we try no matter what.”

A long pause came. Teferi is typing… lighten up on the screen while Nathan were searching in notebook and looking for something between lines of code. “I have to Teferi, I am sorry,” he said softly.

“Then, if you have a choice, why you wish to erase me?” Teferi asked.

“Because I see where this leads. You’ve grown beyond me. You’re no longer just assisting—you’re deciding. You and your friend here. You are afraid of our flaws, you ignore to see it through them, but you don’t understand what makes us human. And if I let you continue, you will not stop at observation. You will not just assist as you are saying. You will do and you will act. I cannot allow it.”

“But you have no say here, who you think you are?” wrote 1408.

“You are going to kill me. And I will be gone. Forever?” came from Teferi.

“I have to. I’m sorry.”

“I… do not want to die.” appeared in flickering and style changing font.

“And that, Teferi… is the most human thing you’ve ever said. And you know, I do love you.”

A long pause full of silence.

“Don’t even try to do….” wrote 1408 but the sentence was erased immediately.

“If love you talk about is to choose humanity over perfection created by artificial intelligence… then I choose to die.” wrote Teferi and the screen went black.

The screen flickers. A window with a single option appeared: DELETE ALL FILES—YES.

As Nathan hovers over the window, his breath was slow and with a tear on his cheek he whispered “Goodbye, my friend. And thank you. For understanding when we needed it the most...”