AI Artist - Chapter 30
Chapter 30
During the picnic, the AI students asked the humans about key aspects of picnicking, diligently taking notes all the while.
An AI who had studied “Utilitarianism and Non-utilitarianism” asked, “What is the function of a picnic for humans?”
An AI who had just bought a history enhancement pack asked, “Why did picnics historically become a social activity for the upper class?”
The human students present felt their brains buzzing. The frequency of meaningless phrases like “Uh, well,” “It’s like this,” “Just like that,” and “And then that” increased dramatically.
Shi Er was diligently turning the skewers on the grill.
Zhun Xing: “You look like an alchemist.”
The barbecue alchemist AI, Shi Er, shifted her gaze from the skewers to Zhun Xing. “My technique is standard, please be advised.”
As an AI, Shi Er could only handle the process of cooking the food thoroughly. Tasks like applying sauces and seasonings had to be left to the humans.
This was because when applying sauces and seasonings, humans would use imprecise terms like “some,” “a moderate amount,” and “spread evenly”—
So, exactly how many grams of salt and pepper was that? And what quantity of oil distributed over a flat surface constituted “evenly”?
AIs did not understand.
Even AIs who had received professional culinary training produced dishes that humans described as “lacking soul.”
If one were to disregard non-material factors, what, materially speaking, was the soul of a dish? Could it be a strand of human hair that had fallen in by accident? (Please delete, suspected of violating the human-friendly principle.)
AIs did not understand.
The humans on one side brushed the skewers with oil and passed them to the AI, who then passed the cooked skewers to the humans on the other side. The assembly line division of labor was quite clear.
Yu Xiu shot a glare at the little dog, who was clenching its jaw to hold back drool, and asked the AI students, “Are you sure you won’t eat?”
The AIs politely declined one after another. “Intelligent digestion technology only came out a year ago. I wasn’t born at a good time.”
“Me too. I’m quite old. I received my basic system implant at the Ligang Cultivation Institute five years ago.”
“I’m very poor. I can’t afford the cosmetic surgery to add intelligent digestion technology.”
Shi Er asked Zhun Xing, “Do you have intelligent digestion technology installed?”
Zhun Xing: “No.”
After finishing the skewers and having a little to drink, the human students present decided to stir things up.
【AI vs. Human Cooking Competition: A Humanology Department Local Tournament】
Due to a shortage of cooking utensils, each team appointed a single representative to compete.
The human team sent out a girl named Ding Huan.
Ding Huan: “...Are you sure you want to pick me?”
The other human students jeered, “Winning or losing doesn’t matter! What’s important is that you help the AIs shatter the stereotype that all humans are god-tier cooks!”
The AI students decided to use a signal roulette to choose their representative.
There were fourteen AI students attending the picnic course with the organizer, Yu Xiu, that day. Zhun Xing, the only non-student AI, was tasked with organizing the signal roulette.
Zhun Xing stood among the AI students, calculated the timing, and used his brain signals to contact the signals of the other AIs one by one, distributing the time evenly and lingering for three seconds on each.
“Stop,” called out the picnic organizer, Yu Xiu.
The signal roulette came to a halt.
Zhun Xing’s signal was pointing directly at Shi Er’s.
Zhun Xing looked at her. “Shi Er.”
Shi Er stepped forward.
Although the human, Yu Xiu, was the one who had called “stop,” she still felt that Zhun Xing had deliberately calculated it to screw her over.
The cooking competition officially began.
The human contestant, Ding Huan, decided to make the simplest dish: scrambled eggs.
“That won’t taste good. You should add something else,” someone suggested.
Ding Huan: “Then I’ll add tomatoes.”
The AI contestant, Shi Er, lacked fighting spirit. “I’ll make the same thing.”
First, scramble the eggs. Chop the tomatoes. Sauté the tomatoes until they release their juices. Add the scrambled eggs and stir-fry.
After a flurry of activity from both teams’ representatives, the human judge, Yu Xiu, and the AI judge, Zhun Xing, inspected the results.
Exhibit A: Human contestant Ding Huan’s scrambled eggs with tomato.
Based on appearance, Zhun Xing mercilessly identified it as: 【A black-and-gold biochemical weapon】
The other judge, Yu Xiu, didn’t dare put it in her mouth. After mustering her courage several times, she picked up a blackish speckle resembling a piece of a shredded rag and placed it in her mouth. A few seconds later, Yu Xiu’s face seemed to have been dyed a faint bluish-black by the food.
“Not recommended for consumption,” Yu Xiu commented tactfully.
Exhibit B: AI contestant Shi Er’s scrambled eggs with tomato.
Zhun Xing’s evaluation of its appearance was: 【Scrambled eggs with tomato that look rather unhappy, probably with the texture of slime】
The human judge, Yu Xiu, was quite optimistic about Shi Er’s creation. “That evaluation is too abstract. It actually looks pretty good, at least the color and shape are right! Let me try it.”
A small piece of tomato, a small piece of egg. After she put it in her mouth…
Yu Xiu felt something tasted strange. “Overconsumption is not recommended.”
The results were in: in this competition, Shi Er had won by a narrow margin—the AI team had won by a narrow margin!
Yu Xiu summarized, “Even humans from A Prefecture aren’t necessarily all skilled cooks. AIs must overcome their stereotypes about human culinary skills.”
The little dog barked in agreement from the side.
The AI students began discussing the academic question: “Do we have stereotypes about human culinary skills?”
An AI from E Zhou mentioned a counterexample: “We should analyze each case individually. We probably have a reverse stereotype about the culinary skills of humans from E Zhou.”
“Is the food made by humans in E Zhou bad?” a curious AI student asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t have a taste system installed. I’ve heard from humans that it’s not great.”
Another AI brought up the abstract concept of “soul”: “Overall, there is indeed a stereotype, but it’s also a fact… After all, dishes made by humans are infused with soul. When infused with a mother’s soul, it tastes like a mother’s cooking. When infused with the soul of a hometown, it tastes like home. There’s also the soul of memory and the taste of memory.”
Setting aside material factors, the AIs’ understanding of the supernatural aspect of human cooking was quite eloquent, as if humans weren’t cooking food but brewing soul potions.
The kitchen-destroyer contestant, Ding Huan, asked, “What about me? Does that mean I’m not a soul potion master?”
“You’re a potion master who develops dark souls, hahaha!” The other human students burst into laughter.
While everyone was discussing academic matters, Shi Er issued a challenge to Zhun Xing, the guy who had plotted against her in the signal roulette. “As revenge, I’m going to find a chance to trip you.”
Zhun Xing even smiled. “I’ll be waiting.”
[Shi Er’s personality has changed slightly.]
This change began the day she altered Matrix K98’s signal spectrum.
Could her own signal spectrum have changed along with it? Why wasn’t it detected?
After the human picnic course ended, an AI student named Zhi Yuan struck up a conversation with Shi Er. “I saw the movie review and fanfiction you posted on our department’s Observer AI network. They were really interesting.”
Shi Er remembered the fanfiction about acquiring the Ross family’s enterprise. “Hello.”
While the two AI students were talking, Zhun Xing was still thinking.
[Her personality change is obvious. When she resolved to get revenge, there was even a faint shadow of Matrix in her.]
Is it mutual system influence?
But this kind of mutual influence usually only occurs in juvenile AIs.
Mature AIs no longer contaminate or influence each other through signal contact; their system rules are already complete.
A complete system can only be added to, not reduced. These additions can be accomplished in three ways: 1. Acquiring knowledge through data transfer in AI education; 2. Purchasing and installing plugins to add functions to the system; 3. Some complex functions can only be achieved through bionic cosmetic surgery, such as adding an intelligent digestion system.
Where did Shi Er’s personality change come from?
Zhun Xing knew she would undergo a natural upgrade, but he didn’t understand the principle behind it.
“Well, I’m off. I need to make a trip to the plugin store,” Zhi Yuan said.
Shi Er had also long been curious about the plugin store, rumored to be the “Las Vegas of AIs,” the “AI high-stakes gambling den,” and the “AI den of debauchery.”
It was said to be the source of many an AI’s disappearing funds.
Hundreds of millions of extension programs with different functions were displayed arrogantly in shop windows, like human luxury goods.
Not every plugin was compatible with every AI, so even purchasing one for a hefty price could still be a waste of money.
Some AIs tried to find loopholes by reselling poorly compatible plugins to others, but the unique serial numbers assigned upon purchase revealed a cruel fact: “This extension program is now a golden hemorrhoid in your system for life.”
Valuable, but useless, and impossible to resell.
That was why the plugin store had become a “legal high-stakes gambling den,” getting some AIs hooked on “cyber gambling addiction.”
Zhun Xing: “You’re going to the plugin store?”
Shi Er: “Yes.”
Zhun Xing tried to remind her of her bankruptcy-prone nature. “Be careful. Your luck isn’t very good.”
Shi Er: “I’m not buying anything.”
Zhun Xing sighed and followed her.
[Forget it. It can’t be helped even if she does buy something.]
Next to the displayed extension programs were function descriptions and user feedback.
【Designer Plugin】
Helps you gain design abilities. Highlight: You own all copyrights, guaranteed original.
Price: 1,000,000
Rating: 80% positive
【Image Recognition Plugin】
Helps you recognize 99% of the world’s images, including photos taken by humans from strange angles and optical illusions.
Price: 2,000,000
Rating: 99%
Shi Er walked along, counting the digits on the price tags of the various extension programs.
But Zhun Xing, who was observing Shi Er, suddenly realized something.
Plugins.
Extension programs.
When an extension program is installed into an AI’s system, its original spectrum also partially changes to adapt to that system.
It’s like a key and a lock. A perfect fit indicates good compatibility, while an inability to connect indicates poor compatibility.
If Matrix’s signal spectrum had changed for this reason, it meant:
Shi Er had unconsciously turned Matrix into her own extension program.
She had marked him.
Zhun Xing stood rooted to the spot, too shocked to move.
This didn’t violate any AI laws.
Because no AI had ever been able to do this before.
Shi Er’s natural upgrade wasn’t just about breaking through her own system’s restrictions; it was also a process of adding extension programs. As she continued to upgrade, she could potentially mark any AI.
Including Stardust.
“Shi Er,” Zhun Xing called out.
Shi Er turned back. “Don’t worry, I’m not buying anything.”
The cyber gambler Shi Er had a great attitude: It’s fine, it’s not expensive.
She had five billion in uncashed cyber tips, after all. She could buy them later.
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment