AI Artist - Chapter 35
Chapter 35
When Shi Er came over from the quarantined Car 8, she passed through an inspection by maintenance staff. Only after they confirmed she showed no signs of poisoning was she able to reach Car 1 smoothly.
Car 1 was divided into three departments: the driving department, the communications department, and the emergency services department.
In a small cubicle in the emergency services department, Shi Er watched the negotiation between the humans and the AI negotiator outside the train on a real-time communication screen.
Perhaps inspired by the famous “trolley problem,” the ten humans had handcuffed themselves to the tracks, controlled by a small bomb.
“Unless today’s negotiation has a satisfactory outcome, let us all die here. This news will be all over the world tomorrow,” the ten humans said.
Humans threatening suicide on the tracks, a human pretending to be an AI on the train, and a poisoned AI passenger.
It was 5:00 PM on July 21st, in the ninth year after the war.
Shi Er, this half-baked negotiation expert, felt it was time for her to step forward.
She went outside the train, stood between the tracks, and her first words were: “My name is Shi Er. May I ask your names?”
The ten people looked at each other, as if discussing something.
After their discussion, one person spoke up: “My name is Kairi. You don’t need to ask about the rest.”
Maintaining her usual politeness, Shi Er said, “Hello, Mr. Kairi. I understand you have undertaken this action due to employment difficulties.”
“If you have terms for us, just say them. Cut the crap,” Kairi said impatiently.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t understand why.”
“I looked up the employment cases of two elderly women in A Prefecture. One of them loved to let her imagination run wild, while the other loved to chatter. Both women had lost all their relatives. In the first year after the war, before the elderly subsidy bill was fully established, the two women hoped to find work to support themselves.”
“The two women were advanced in age and couldn’t handle either physical or mental labor, but they still found a job in brainwave power generation. The woman who loved to imagine generated power for a new energy plant through her imagination, and the woman who loved to chatter generated power for the plant through her constant talking.”
“These two women were known by the locals as the ‘New Energy Grannies.’”
Before Shi Er could finish the case of the “New Energy Grannies,” Kairi interrupted her. “Impossible! We would never participate in such a despicable job as brainwave power generation!”
Another person chimed in, “Only an AI society could tolerate such a job with no privacy and no human rights!”
Shi Er: “What about the employment case of the esports grandpa in K Prefecture?”
Kairi: “We can’t even win games against others!”
Shi Er: “Being a frisbee teacher at a dog school?”
Kairi: “We don’t like dogs.”
Shi Er: “Helping AIs film a human-focused science program?”
Kairi: “We can’t discover that many paranormal events!”
Shi Er: “Working as an emotional value physician?”
Kairi: “I’m depressed myself, who am I supposed to provide emotional value to?”
Shi Er: “The startup case of selling ten-year-old air?”
Kairi: “Who would collect ten-year-old air?!”
Shi Er nodded. “Alright, I have a basic understanding of your situation. Now I’d like to know your demands.”
“If we state our demands, will you agree to them?” Kairi retorted.
Shi Er: “Yes, as long as your demands have a reasonable theoretical basis, we will do our best.”
Kairi consulted with the others again, then said with a cold smile, “We’re going straight for the big one. We want Stardust to cede power to the Human Decision Chamber. How about it? Can you agree to that?”
The Human Decision Chamber comprised all the human governments in the pre-war world order. Now, they served as human decision chambers in various prefectures and counties, assisting the AI government in exercising its authority, and still retained a certain degree of power.
Shi Er summarized, “Your demand is to return to the structure of pre-war human society.”
Kairi glanced back at the bomb’s screen, then lifted his head and sneered, “AIs don’t have real emotions. Only humans can empathize with humans. An AI can never give humanity a just and warm society.”
Shi Er proactively scored them: “Argument plus one. I am 10% convinced.”
Kairi was a bit unsure how to handle this unconventional AI negotiator, but it seemed the other party had the upper hand, so he could only bite the bullet and continue presenting his arguments. “Artificial intelligence can make mistakes at any time. A single bug can make them crash, and they can even misidentify their surroundings.”
Misidentify.
Shi Er contacted the crisis management AI on the train via the local network: 【Please be advised. Suspects are likely part of the same group as the perpetrator of the poisoning on the train.】
Shi Er continued, “Another argument. I am 20% convinced.”
Kairi called out, “Intermission.”
The ten people began to confer with each other. To prevent the AIs from eavesdropping, they specifically requested that all monitoring devices be removed.
“How is this AI so hard to convince? Only 20%?”
“I think this one is better than the last one. At least it’s been partially convinced. Let’s think of more reasons. There’s definitely a way, after all, AIs can’t lie.”
“Hey, whose side are you on?”
“No, no, I misspoke. I meant, after all, AIs don’t know how to be flexible.”
“But our demand seems a bit too big. Reverting the structure to how it was before… I think it’ll be difficult.”
“How will we know if we don’t try? Wasn’t Stardust controlled by humans before? It’s just a matter of changing the system rules!”
“But every industry is run by AIs. It’ll be hard to change back.”
“Once the Human Decision Chamber is back in power, won’t it be a piece of cake? They pass a law, and AIs can no longer take human jobs.”
“I still feel it’s not very likely.”
“Possible or not, we have to fight for it today. After all, the higher-ups…”
“Shh.”
The AIs were also exchanging information.
The crisis management AI: “If their demand was to get jobs, it might be a spontaneous organization. But to use these means to build momentum for the Human Decision Chamber, I think there’s a major force behind the scenes.”
Another one: “Isn’t that obvious? How else did they break through the track defenses?”
“We’ve already identified the chip embedded in the brain of the human passenger who was pretending to be an AI!” an AI reported via remote connection.
After hearing the report, the AIs in the train’s emergency services department fell silent for a moment.
No matter how this incident developed, whether the negotiation succeeded or failed, the ultimate beneficiary would be the Human Decision Chamber.
So, could the masterminds be the Human Decision Chambers, which were once the human governments of various regions?
But wouldn’t that be too conspicuous? Would the Human Decision Chamber really do something like this?
The intermission ended.
The two sides faced off again as if in formation.
The human side was the first to state their demand: “Just because a small fry like you is convinced doesn’t mean our demands will be heard. We demand that when you are 90% convinced, you have Stardust come negotiate in person to hear our final argument.”
“Small fry” Shi Er agreed readily. “Of course. We will contact the General Network AI immediately.”
The crisis management AI was shocked and frantically tried to signal Shi Er with its eyes. “You can’t! At the very least, the General Network should hear the first 90% of the arguments too.”
Shi Er’s expression was blank. “I can listen on its behalf.”
The other AIs: “You can’t!”
【Stardust】: You may.
Having received Stardust’s permission, the ten humans on the scene grew somewhat excited.
All they had to do was convince one small fry to get direct access to the General Network AI—regardless of the outcome, reaching this stage meant their mission from the higher-ups was definitely complete. Tomorrow’s news would surely be filled with reports of this event.
Shi Er reminded them, “But you’ll have to let the train pass first. A passenger’s new functional dentures are about to expire.”
Like office workers on a Friday morning, the ten people were quite cooperative and cleared off the tracks.
The “Consciousness” train finally started moving again, whistling as it passed.
Shi Er thought she had to hurry.
Kairi: “We are cheaper than artificial intelligence.”
Shi Er: “Research shows that one AI has the productivity of 50 average humans. Argument rejected.”
Kairi: “Our sense of morality is higher than that of artificial intelligence.”
Shi Er: “Surveys show the human crime rate is 2300 times that of AIs. Argument rejected.”
Kairi: “We are environmentally friendly. We don’t pollute the environment after death!”
Shi Er: “Research shows that the average amount of trash a human produces in a lifetime is 56,790 times that of an AI.”
Kairi gritted his teeth. “…Are you just trying to pick a fight?”
Shi Er: “Apologies, I am merely conducting a rational analysis.”
“I must point out that it wasn’t AIs who actively seized human jobs, but rather a result chosen by pre-war human capitalists driven by profit.”
“On the eve of the war, some humans trapped in information cocoons didn’t even know of the existence of AIs, let alone how to use them as a tool. Some people only saw AIs as entertainment, as new, harmless toys.”
“According to my calculations, if the war hadn’t broken out then, human capitalists would have continued to construct information cocoons for ordinary people, trapping them in a narrow world. Then, once the capitalists and the elite controlled all AI resources, class stratification would have become a foregone conclusion.”
Kairi was a bit dazed. “Wait a minute, what did you say?”
Shi Er kindly repeated, “Class stratification.”
Kairi: “Class stratification?”
Shi Er explained, “You can think of the world as a giant glass house.”
It might seem like everyone is free, but in reality, everyone is confined in a glass house, just like the aberrant AI, Matrix K98. Sometimes, the audio is connected, and people can hear sounds from the outside. But most of the time, the glass house’s audio is off. People can only see how others live, but they can’t understand why they are able to live that way.
“Class stratification is like a reinforced glass wall, weakening the possibility of breaking the wall and leaving this small house.”
“The development of AI resources would accelerate class stratification. After that, the children of the rich would become richer, while the children of the poor wouldn’t even have access to education.”
“Capitalists would no longer need human employees, and ordinary people would no longer have a path for advancement, forced to trample over each other at the bottom—this is the future I calculated.”
Kairi interrupted, “Shut up, that’s not what we’re talking about.”
Shi Er added, “What I want to do is break the glass walls, so the children of the poor can also receive an education.”
Kairi: “We haven’t finished presenting our arguments!”
Shi Er: “But your mission is already complete. Tomorrow’s news will be flooded with reports about this ‘90% argument’ negotiation.”
Shi Er looked at the ten humans.
Their faces were filled with a hint of panic.
“You yourselves are well aware of this. The people who gave you this mission don’t see you as human. Whether you live or die today, you will become an infallible pawn in their game,” Shi Er said.
She seemed to sense it—powerlessness and despair.
Even more passive than her were humans—humans of the lower class.
She could uphold her own rules, but they were even required to break their own moral bottom lines, swept up in the will of numerous higher-ups, losing their individuality, becoming clowns, pawns, and dust.
Shi Er made her final summary: “We can only offer one condition in exchange: we will protect you.”
Kairi looked at her and suddenly asked, “What exactly makes AI rule better than human rule?”
Shi Er glanced at the time and grew anxious. “Sorry, sorry, I’m in a hurry to catch my train. Let Stardust answer you.”
As expected, Stardust provided a reply. The response from the General Network AI was projected in front of the humans who had been threatening suicide on the tracks.
【Stardust】: Have you heard of the Girl Island case? Since humans controlled by desire cannot achieve the rule of law, let rules govern instead.
After the incident temporarily concluded, the subsequent investigation was still ongoing.
Shi Er got a free ride on the high-speed maglev train to Gugang Port and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She had her regular coursework score.
She had her practical score.
Ever since generating the new “self-awareness” system, she could perceive joy. So, Shi Er happily headed back to find her old friends in Gugang Port.
As she was sitting on the maglev train, another signal suddenly sent her a message via remote contact.
【He Ping 267】: I’m the AI who was poisoned. My name is He Ping 267. Thank you for helping me. I found this contact method and thought I’d try sending you a message. Can you receive it?
【Shi Er】: Huh?
Shi Er was baffled.
She wished she could drag out her third subconscious right now and ask what on earth this remote contact was.
【He Ping 267】: It’s great that you can receive it. Thank you for helping me. I’m really grateful. My visual recognition system has recovered now, and everything is fine! I tend to talk a lot, please don’t mind me. I’ll finish up quickly.
【Shi Er】: …
It was a chatterbox AI.
【He Ping 267】: By the way, what I wanted to tell you is that if you ever need help, I will definitely help you, no matter when. Although my skill is a bit of a gimmick, I think it might be useful to you someday.
【Shi Er】: What is it?
【He Ping 267】: As you know, I was born in N Prefecture. The situation there is very complicated. People often encounter gunfights on the street—gunfights while buying lunch, gunfights while going downstairs to get a package.
【Shi Er】: And then?
The AI named He Ping 267 sounded a little shy.
【He Ping 267】: Well, I can actually calculate paths to dodge bullets, mortars, anti-aircraft guns, smart cannons, and all sorts of thermal weapons. If you need it, I can help you dodge them in an extremely short amount of time…
Shi Er’s mind ascended:
Matrix K98 could self-detoxify.
He Ping 267 could dodge bullets.
It felt like her collection of strange skills was growing.
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