Nothing Artificial
Simon sighed as the board meeting dragged on. He was certain that some of the other members were listening to the stock market on their bluetooths, or perhaps Taylor Swift.
Henry Green, the chairman, was sitting back in his overly large leather chair with his fingers steepled in front of his chest. The sun was beaming in from the huge window behind him, which overlooked the other city skyscrapers.
With his curly blond hair and boyish good looks, the scene was almost angelic, except for the dust motes floating in the sunbeams and settling on Henry.
How can there be dust motes in this room? Simon wondered. Someone needs to do a white glove inspection of this place, he thought.
Henry was patiently listening to Willy Provost giving an account of Sky Limited LLC’s modest growth and profit projections for the coming year, made longer by Willy frequently stopping to mop his sweaty forehead with his handkerchief.
When, at last, he was done, Henry thanked him.
“There’s one final piece of business,” said Henry and Simon stifled a groan.
“We will be adding a new product line,” he said.
This had the effect of sort of waking everyone up. They sat up straighter and looked from one to another and then at Henry.
“Well,” said Bill Smith, “don’t keep us in suspense, Henry. What is it?”
“It’s an AI,” said Henry.
The stunned silence was total, as if someone had died or the New York Stock Exchange had crashed.
Finally Simon got up the nerve to speak.
“But Henry. We have AIs. We have AIs up the wazoo. Everyone has AIs.” he said.
“This is the next level of AI,” said Henry.
“The next level? How so?” Simon asked.
“A whole new level of organization and adaptability. Once it’s initially programmed, it requires no further programming or correcting. You don’t have to program it for new types of tasks. You just tell it what needs to be done,” Henry explained.
“You’ve seen this?” Marrion asked. He was a young product engineer, a prodigy.
“It hasn’t been built yet. But the designs are complete. The project is ready to roll,” said Henry.
“Who designed it?” asked Hugo, the Chief Product Engineer.
“A group of engineers out of Hungary,” answered Henry, “they’ll be setting up here and overseeing the construction.”
Well that was it; the most audacious event to happen at Sky Limited LLC in years. Everyone left the meeting talking amongst themselves. Who was this Hungarian group of engineers, they wondered. How had Henry met them?
There were no answers for their questions. Instead, everything seemed to go on as normal, except they knew the Hungarians were down in the lab getting this new thing built.
A couple of weeks passed and another meeting was called.
“It’s finished,” Henry announced.
There was no product on the table, not even a powerpoint demonstration. Instead, it was decided that the new design was going to be tested out in one of its most simple configurations; that of caring for and managing a household.
It was decided that the AI would be installed in Hugo’s penthouse and, even though it was planned that there would be numerous upcoming models, this would be a highly upgraded installation.
Hugo was to live with the thing for a week and then, since Simon was the head of Project Analysis, Simon would visit after one week’s time and make a full evaluation based on observation and interviewing Hugo about it.
And so it was that, after a week’s time, Simon took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor of the tower where Hugo lived. Hugo’s penthouse was approximately half of the fifteenth floor, the remainder being some doctor’s offices.
Simon straightened his tie and combed his straight dark hair in the reflection of the directory, then went to Hugo’s door. He had been to Hugo’s place a number of times for casual get togethers and such and he took notice of the new device that had been installed next to the door.
It was a small panel with what looked like a speaker and a camera mounted in it.
Simon rang the doorbell and a small light came on inside the panel.
“Who’s calling, please?” a pleasant male voice asked from the speaker.
“Simon Gabinsky.”
“One moment, please,” the voice said.
Hugo opened the door, as he had obviously been waiting on the other side since Simon rang the bell.
“Do come in, Simon,” said Hugo. He looked quite relaxed and was wearing sweatpants and a t- shirt.
“Do sit down. Can I get you something to drink?” he asked.
“Some tea, maybe,” said Simon, sitting down on the couch.
Hugo brought a tea tray over to the coffee table and sat in a large stuffed chair across from Simon. Behind him the penthouse was almost solid glass, giving a bird’s eye view of the cityscape.
“You’re just in time for lunch,” said Hugo.
“I don’t want to trouble you,” said Simon.
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” said Hugo with a sly smile, “in fact, it will be a good opportunity to see Ari in action.”
“Arr?” asked Simon.
“Short for Aristotle,” said Hugo.
“Aristotle? The AI, I presume?”
“Yes.”
“Was that the AI at the door?” Simon asked, taking a sip of tea.
“Yes. It does much more than answer doors, though. Come, let’s go sit in the dining room.” said Hugo.
A lovely brunch of Eggs Benedict and scalloped potatoes awaited them in Hugo’s dining room, the table all set and food on the plates.
“I didn’t know you cooked. This is remarkably good,” said Simon.
“I don’t cook much and I certainly didn’t cook this,” said Hugo.
“Don’t tell me..”
“Yes. Ari,” said Hugo.
“But how in the world?” asked Simon.
Hugo raised his coffee cup and dumped the contents on the floor.
Immediately a panel in the floorboard opened and a small saucer shaped device on four little wheels rolled out, going straight for the spill. It ran over the spill, dispensing some kind of stain remover and then went back over the spot with brushes and hot air.
When the spot was gone, it retreated back into its little compartment in the floorboard.
“Amazing!” said Simon but Hugo had raised a finger.
“Looks like I need a refill on my coffee,” he said.
Emerging from what Simon had taken to be a small coat closet came a young woman with blonde hair, dressed in a very prim maid’s outfit. She walked to the pot of coffee on the table and poured Hugo a fresh cup, then set the pot down and stood off to the side of the table.
Simon just stared with his mouth hanging open.
“Servobots,” said Hugo.
“That’s a…”
“Servobot,” Hugo said, “This particular model has a maid and smaller bots like the one that mopped up the spill. This is a pretty upgraded version but there are a couple above it that have butlers and even gardeners.”
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