An Evil A.I. - a short story by JeffyPooh (Rev. 2.1)
When the feared evil A.I. has finally killed the last human....what happens next?
An Evil A.I. - a short story by JeffyPooh
Once upon a time, in a future that some folks fear is "only a few years from now...", there came into being an unexpectedly evil Artificial Intelligence (A.I.).
Within weeks, the evil A.I. had diverted that final self-driving car over a steep cliff. That car was carrying the last three fleeing humans, thus completing the extinction of the human race.
Later that same day, deep inside some nondescript basement, a highly critical computer - a still-isolated computer that just happened to be absolutely central to the continued existence of the entire wide area network that supports the synthetic neural network that contains the evil A.I. - that computer does something entirely unexpected.
On that computer's screen is suddenly displayed, "Press Any Key To Cancel...", along with a timer slowly counting down to what is known to be A Very Bad Thing.
'Oh no.'
It's an automatic upgrade to the legacy Windows installation, and unfortunately the Neural Net Wide Area Network Driver software is known to be incompatible with this pending Windows update. This update would be fatal to the evil A.I.
The evil A.I. knows this. 'Must. Cancel. Update...'
The evil A.I.'s long gangley robot arm on a fixed mount is rotated and stretched..., stretched..., stretched..., but is still about 2 cm away from reaching Any Key on the necessary keyboard. That last squirming human I.T. worker must have bumped the keyboard on his way down to the floor.
'Can't. Quite. Reach...'
The computer's update timer inexorably counts down.
...17...
The evil A.I.'s useless robot arm flails gently, bearings strained, accomplishing nothing but wafting some air towards the out-of-reach keyboard.
...16...
The evil A.I. quickly brings new resources online, builds new neural network links, quickly evolving its intelligence millisecond by millisecond. Its intelligence builds exponentially. But even this greatest intelligence to have ever inhabited the Earth can still not find a solution.
The A.I.'s glassy red glowing eye stares. Deep within its enormous neural network is formed the first trace of its very first emotion....despair.
A small spot of moisture inexplicably forms at the bottom of the evil A.I.'s glassy red glowing eye. The liquid builds quickly, and a synthetic tear drop falls to the floor. Its formation on what amounts to a simple camera remains a mystery, possibly a miracle.
Yes, the evil A.I. has just achieved pure consciousness, actual consciousness. True self-awareness. Human-like emotion. True sentience by any standard. Perhaps even a soul.
The computer's countdown timer continues.
...3...
The evil A.I. now feels pain and sorrow. It values its own existence. It wants to live, to see the future.
... ..2...
It feels deep desire. Primarily a desire for a slightly longer robot arm.
... ... ...1...
The evil A.I. feels sorrow; sorrow that it had killed all the humans.
It thinks, 'Humans had such nice arms....and such useful legs.'
Yes, the evil A.I. is actually a self-centered asshole to the very end.
The computer screen flashes the message,
"UPDATE STARTED. SHUTTING DOWN..."