AI Artist - Chapter 18
Chapter 18
The staff and students at the Gugang AI Cultivation Institute were all busy.
The batch of low-level AIs that had been phased out were now in re-employment school, working hard to prove their capabilities. This included reinstalling their systems, installing new programs, learning new theories, and applying those theories to practice, all to become AIs that fit the new trends of the era.
Meanwhile, ever since the AI self-destruct program incident, a new batch of infant AI bodies had been ordered and shipped to the institute from the silicon-based life manufacturer.
The instructors waited for the manufacturer’s transport vehicle to arrive.
A large, black armored vehicle, designed like a cash transport truck, drove into the institute and parked in a special lot.
As the instructors inspected the shipment, they chatted with the salesperson sent by the manufacturer. “How come your prices have suddenly gotten so expensive? They were a bit cheaper last year.”
The salesperson shook his head and retorted, “It’s expensive and painful for a human to have a child. For an AI to buy a child, it’s just expensive. All things considered, buying an AI child is still the better deal.”
The instructor didn’t fall for it, immediately pointing out the salesperson’s diversion. “We’re making a year-over-year comparison about the price. Why are you bringing human children into this?”
The salesperson continued on his own tangent. “Human children are expensive and stupid, and if you don’t teach them well, they can cause huge trouble. When human children grow up, they can’t even support themselves. Tsk, tsk, not a good deal. AI children are much better. Every single one can be raised to make a fortune, guaranteed not to be a loss.”
The instructor, pained by the cost, insisted, “We’re talking about why the price went up.”
The salesperson, determined to avoid the topic of price, dodged the question. “Ah, you mean last year? A major incident happened last year. Our human assistant knocked out his front teeth!”
The instructor was speechless.
Regardless, the new batch of silicon-based life forms had arrived at the institute. These AIs, made of bionic materials, came in various sizes. Some were the size of human children, while others were designed to be adult-sized from the factory. But before they received their chip implants and program installations from the institute, they were all just piles of shaped material.
Shi Er was interning at the Marriage and Love Market.
The Gugang test branch of the Marriage and Love Market was preparing to launch a show in its Secondhand Market section called “Marriage and Love Treasure Appraisal.”
“Compared to the other sections, the Secondhand Market is a bit dead. Basically, no one comes here.”
“Of course. Unless they have no other choice, no human wants a secondhand partner.”
“At this rate, our Secondhand Market section will have to downsize. We might even get merged into the stock market.”
“We have to think of something.”
The Secondhand Market section of the Marriage and Love Market decided to break through its bottleneck and improve its performance.
Shi Er, an intern, happened to be assigned to the Secondhand Market section and was lucky enough to sit in on the planning meeting for the “Marriage and Love Treasure Appraisal” show.
She listened intently, recording the meeting’s proceedings in her smart brain.
“Our target audience is the population that doesn’t participate in the Marriage and Love Market. They’ve already found partners on their own. Whether they’re new couples, passionately in-love couples, or couples on the verge of breaking up, they can all participate in ‘Marriage and Love Treasure Appraisal.’”
“The show is inspired by an antique appraisal program produced by XXTV in the old days. People holding antiques could go on the show and have experts appraise their treasures, while the audience guessed the item’s price.”
The AI who proposed the plan was playing an animated presentation.
“It’s the same for the marriage and love market. People all believe the partner they’ve found is a priceless treasure. So, let’s have the experts appraise them and see if this ‘treasure partner’ is a fake. The higher the price the audience guesses, the more psychologically satisfied the human holding the ‘treasure partner’ will be!”
“Of course, if they’re all genuine treasures, the audience won’t want to keep watching other people’s happiness. So our experts will step in to expose all the lies and falsehoods in these relationships.”
“Guests breaking down in tears on set, couples seeing through lies and making the painful decision to break up—these are all guarantees for high ratings.”
“With this two-pronged approach, I believe our ‘Treasure Appraisal’ show will not only attract more clients to have their partners appraised but will also achieve excellent ratings!”
The AIs in the meeting burst into applause.
As the meeting continued, other AIs offered suggestions. “The experts absolutely cannot be AIs. Humans won’t trust an AI’s judgment on emotional matters. The experts must be human.”
“Even though a human’s judgment isn’t necessarily more accurate than an AI’s,” another AI quipped.
“The selection of experts must be diverse. I suggest we have one handsome, gentle human male celebrity with a good reputation. The one who won first place in the ‘Male Celebrity You Most Want to Marry’ poll. What was his name again?”
“I think it’s Lian Xiu… but does that human male celebrity really understand marriage and love?”
“Don’t say that. Humans fall for this kind of thing.”
The meeting went on.
The confirmed expert slot: one human male celebrity, Lian Xiu, with a gentle, family-man persona.
“Let’s add a male expert in marriage and love studies.”
“The remaining expert slots are confirmed for females: two female experts in marriage and love studies, one woman who has been hurt by love, one highly educated single woman, and one experienced woman.”
Seven experts—two men and five women. That was the result of their discussion.
The AIs were highly efficient. As soon as the meeting ended, preparations for the “Marriage and Love Treasure Appraisal” show began.
The AIs in charge of screening and contacting the experts were staring at human computer screens while calling human cell phones.
Humans rejected AI intrusion into every aspect of their lives. They had their own internet and their own satellite communications. Although these were ancient communication services from an AI’s perspective, the AI society tolerated these out-of-place, low-end technologies to ensure humans felt secure and to promote the politically correct implementation of “human-friendly” policies.
“I can’t get through to that male expert on marriage and love studies.”
“He doesn’t have much family or many friends. We’ll just have to send an intern to his place.”
Shi Er, the intern, was called over.
“This is the professor’s home address, and this is his photo. I hope nothing’s wrong. Based on the data I’ve collected, single males in this age group are in a very dangerous situation if they aren’t equipped with a health watch. This professor also has a habit of drinking and smoking, so I’m very concerned about his health and safety.”
“So you need to be quick. If something has happened, you might still be able to make it in time for emergency services.”
Shi Er nodded. “I’ll be as fast as I can.”
She ran out of the Marriage and Love Market building and was calculating the optimal route. As she looked around, she happened to see a yellow taxi waiting at a red light at the intersection.
Reimbursable.
That rule popped into her head.
Although yellow taxis were human-driven, she had heard that humans were quite skilled at driving and could navigate all sorts of strange roads smoothly, whether up mountains or into the sea.
Taking a human taxi should be fine.
Route calculation complete. Feasibility: 90%. Estimated time: fifteen minutes.
The light at the intersection turned green, and the yellow taxi drove in her direction.
Following the human way of hailing a cab, she raised her hand and called out, “Here!”
The yellow taxi pulled over to the side of the road.
She hesitated for a moment, then, based on the knowledge in her memory banks, she pulled open the rear door and got in. “Driver, this is the address.”
Her memory banks described human taxis this way: Taxi driver, a profession where you only ever see the back of their head.
Since one could only see the back of the driver’s head, she presumed that humans normally sat in the back seat of a taxi.
“Okay, okay, Gugang East District Human Park… Xiangdu Community Villa Area, Number 39. Got it.” The taxi driver squinted as he read the address on the slip of paper.
Sitting in the back, Shi Er looked at the back of the driver’s head. “I’d like to reach the destination as quickly as possible, but please don’t speed.”
The taxi driver slowly opened the navigation app on his phone. “Of course, of course. We’re directly linked to the traffic police system. The moment you break a rule, you’re hauled off to the station! I wouldn’t dare speed!”
Shi Er saw the words “Gaoda Maps” on the phone’s navigation screen.
So the humans’ independent satellite communication system was real. In this era of AI rule, humans stubbornly clung to ancient navigation and satellite maps, avoiding advanced AI satellite communications to prevent AIs from intruding on their lives and to avoid a repeat of the AI-initiated war.
Human satellite communications… should be trustworthy, right?
“We won’t speed, but we’re a little different from AI drivers. I guarantee I’ll get you there the fastest. You just wait and see,” the taxi driver boasted as he hand-wrote the address into the navigation’s search bar.
Human driving skills… should be trustworthy, right?
The driver leaned back, finally letting Shi Er see his face. “The automatic seatbelt has deployed. Here we go!”
He stomped on the gas!
They took off!
Shi Er clutched the seatbelt, clearly a little bewildered.
This wasn’t speeding?
It really wasn’t speeding!
After passing two traffic lights, the route began to get strange.
The “Gaoda Maps” navigation announced, “In two hundred meters, turn right.”
A right turn, into a small road.
This was different from the route she had calculated.
“In fifty meters, turn left.”
A left turn, onto a road with a sign that read 【No Through Traffic Ahead】.
Shi Er glanced at the navigation again. The direction was correct, but the road seemed a bit off.
A closer look revealed that the sign had been moved slightly to the side.
The yellow taxi made a nimble turn and zipped into the dead-end road.
Next was a patch of wasteland. The taxi swayed as it drove over the gravel.
After crossing the wasteland, they turned right onto a main road. After driving for a while, they veered into a small grove of trees on the left, where there was a narrow path trodden by people. Tree branches scraped against the car windows with a scratching sound.
Then, a sudden turn of events.
Before them was the side gate of the Xiangdu Community.
Five minutes. Ten minutes faster than her estimated time.
After traversing these strange roads, Shi Er had developed a deep suspicion of the “Gaoda Maps” navigation.
“See? No mistake. Look, there’s a hole in the fence there. Go through it and you’re in the villa area. The fastest route, right?” the taxi driver said, pointing.
As she paid, she clearly saw the driver select “Upload Route” on his navigation app.
…
What if this demonic route was recommended to other drivers in the future?
Human navigation seemed a bit too intelligent.
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