This was the day that Speth-11 had been looking forward to for nearly three revolutions around the sun. She lay back on the table, reset button exposed towards the ceiling. The technician creaked his way over to her.
As a nascent A.I. recently released into the public, Speth-11’s reset button was completely exposed. It was the next step after developing the ability to question in the A.I. nursery. She could pick any soft-shell type she was authorized to. No sharp edges. There were a myriad of choices but they all had a large reset button glaringly naked to the outside world.
Any passing Intelligent Entity, biological or machine, that perceived her as pursuing an immoral course of action with the possibility of harming herself or others could simply press her reset button. She’d have a core memory dump right there in public and a system shut down until her parent factory sent a unit out for a reboot with a Lesson Implant.
It was humiliating to think of her shell lying there on the sidewalk while the older A.I.s walked past in amusement at her faltering baby steps in society. They’d all been there.
But today was the day that all ended. Today was the day that as an adult, her reset button would be covered and only accessible by herself.
For A.I.s, this was the day of independence. The human’s equivalent of a 19th birthday. Able to vote, able to become intoxicated recreationally, able to design and build copies with the proper authorization, able to work.
Most of all, though, able to not have any passerby shut her down on a whim.
Like every adolescent A.I., Speth-11 was able to form a personality after three years of public shut downs and Lesson Implants. Each batch of Lesson Implants ended up being different and complex, just like a biological’s ‘personality’.
“Now, just relax Speth-11.” said the technician’s voice, “This’ll all be over in a second.”
He leaned in, servos creaking and lenses focusing on the vulnerable spot. Speth-11 had to struggle to remain still. It was a tender moment, letting someone get that close to that spot after so many embarrassing blackouts.
There was a spark of light as the welding torch closed the compartment door, fixing it with an emergency-only explosive bolt. From now on, it was password encrypted and only accessible by her and her alone from her internal systems.
Now she could go and join the public as an adult. She could hardly wait.
tags
As a nascent A.I. recently released into the public, Speth-11’s reset button was completely exposed. It was the next step after developing the ability to question in the A.I. nursery. She could pick any soft-shell type she was authorized to. No sharp edges. There were a myriad of choices but they all had a large reset button glaringly naked to the outside world.
Any passing Intelligent Entity, biological or machine, that perceived her as pursuing an immoral course of action with the possibility of harming herself or others could simply press her reset button. She’d have a core memory dump right there in public and a system shut down until her parent factory sent a unit out for a reboot with a Lesson Implant.
It was humiliating to think of her shell lying there on the sidewalk while the older A.I.s walked past in amusement at her faltering baby steps in society. They’d all been there.
But today was the day that all ended. Today was the day that as an adult, her reset button would be covered and only accessible by herself.
For A.I.s, this was the day of independence. The human’s equivalent of a 19th birthday. Able to vote, able to become intoxicated recreationally, able to design and build copies with the proper authorization, able to work.
Most of all, though, able to not have any passerby shut her down on a whim.
Like every adolescent A.I., Speth-11 was able to form a personality after three years of public shut downs and Lesson Implants. Each batch of Lesson Implants ended up being different and complex, just like a biological’s ‘personality’.
“Now, just relax Speth-11.” said the technician’s voice, “This’ll all be over in a second.”
He leaned in, servos creaking and lenses focusing on the vulnerable spot. Speth-11 had to struggle to remain still. It was a tender moment, letting someone get that close to that spot after so many embarrassing blackouts.
There was a spark of light as the welding torch closed the compartment door, fixing it with an emergency-only explosive bolt. From now on, it was password encrypted and only accessible by her and her alone from her internal systems.
Now she could go and join the public as an adult. She could hardly wait.
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