Do AI's dream of virtual sheep?
Posted on Tue May 24th, 2022 @ 2:30am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Lieutenant Myne Redal
Mission:
MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Myne's office
752 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure
//ON//
"Now, should I put safeguards in check? Probably. Don't want Avalon to go rogue on me and terminate poor little ol' me just because I am too annoying." Myne sighed as she tapped on her PaDD and smiled a bit too gravely. She was not looking forward to this part but she did ask for it and she had been putting it off for long enough now.
Eventually, she had to talk to Avalon or give up on her EMH pet project. So, with one last look around her office, and making sure her door was closed she tapped on her on desk computer. "Beloved by the almighty, I summon thee to our circle, bound by salt and drawn by lavender, the wind under your wings no more." And with that she pressed upon a command on her computer pinging Avalon to her office. Myne tensed and waited, her mind racing to the meeting that was about to begin in mere moments.
Avalon appeared in front of the desk. "Hello Lieutenant " She greeted her. "What can I assist you with today?"
"Hello there Avalon. How have you been? All good? Y our processors are nice and cool and all that?" Myne asked nervously as she looked quite a bit afraid. "Erm, I talked to Commander Taylor, and, well, erm, he has given me permission and access to poke around your..."
The young Trill trailed off and coughed, working to gather the courage to continue talking. "Y-your matrix. Is that alright with you? Please don't kill me!" She finished by finally looking at Avalon with a nervous smile and a terrible ending joke there that was more of a genuine request despite the attempt at humor tone she used.
Avalon was silent. She didn't understand why Gary Taylor would allow such a thing he knew about the ALICE program and what happened there. "Define Poke around." Avalon stated.
"Erm, you know, look and see how you function, have you explain some functionalities to me and compile a design doc of my own to try and create a small scale replica of your matrix. Trying to make a mini Avalon for a shuttle as a medical EMH. All from scratch so I really would like to understand how your matrix was built before I start work on the EMH." Myne explained looking at Avalon with concern. That silence was worrying, Myne did not do well with silence. So blabbing her mouth was her only comfortable course of action.
"You are not going to change my program correct?" Avalon asked.
Myne waved her arms in denial with quite some intensity. "Oh no no no, heat death of the universe nope. Don't want you going rogue and killing off the crew on a whim. Don't need that on my conscience. Just wanna copy and understand parts of your code so I can make something of my own."
"And is anyone going to watch you while you do this?" Avalon asked curiously.
"Define anyone. If you are referring to biologicals, than no. Not unless they got permission from the XO. But if you are referring to other types of intelligence, my PaDD AI will have a few subminds recording and analyzing for me." Myne replied still being a bit nervous as she tapped her PaDD
Avalon nodded. "Those recordings are to be deleted after this is done."
"Ah, yes of course. By the time I am done I would have moved on and made improvements on what I learn from you. No offense, but I do not keep deprecated data saved. So you don't have to worry about that." Myne agreed.
"Very well Lieutenant" The AI confirmed.
"You know, this has gone easier than expected. Out of curiosity, just how sentient are you? Like, do you feel anything like pride?!" Myne asked curiously, not eager to let Avalon go yet.
"I do not meet the conventional definition of sentience" Avalon replied. "My predecessor was way more than sentient."
"Ah right, the one that killed lots of people when it went crazy? So you can't go crazy and kill folks?" Myne tapped her chin for a moment and exhaled, staring at Avalon with a bit of intensity. "Avalon, can you tell me if you have any override codes that the command crew of the Elysium do not know about it?"
"No All my codes are known by the Captain and Exceptive Officer of this vessel. Captain Lalor would not agree to my being activated with hidden subroutines."
By Captain Samuel Woolheater on Tue May 24th, 2022 @ 12:15pm
Oh dear! Sentient Artificial Intelligence. Uh oh. I don't know if I feel creeped out...or curious? I'll have to read more about the Avalon character. Thanks for sparking my interest! A fun read. :)