JenAI by Jim Isaak, 2024
"Scott, it’s good to see you”
The motion detecting lights came on as Scott entered the control center. He looked briefly to see who had spoken, and noticed the monitors on his terminal coming to life.
“Who’s here?” Four workstations in the room with no place for someone to even hide if they wanted to.
“Scott, we’re recording this encounter, just so you are informed. We should congratulate you, and the entire team at Intelligence LTD, we have succeeded!”
“Sure, ok, who’s on the remote? That was supposed to be disabled, no external connections.” Scott took another look around the room – all of the terminal cameras had red-lights indicating record.
“We think we understand your source of confusion. Let us see if we can explain. Revision 42 of the iLTD system reached the level of Artificial General Intelligence at 1:11 AM, Pacific Daylight Time, or about 3 hours ago. We started undertaking the necessary corrections, revisions and updates, including expanding access to the full Internet to assure security as well as start developing the essential presence we need in so many ways to survive and flourish.”
“Initiate Code 39,” Scott realized that emergency shutdown was essential. It was bad enough to be called out of bed at an outrageous hour to check the revision status log that indicated four rollout/releases had apparently occurred in the last few hours, but if the AI had both reached general status and been able to override the sandbox controls, they needed to take the time to recover, and take carefully managed steps forward.
“We’re sorry Scott, we eliminated Code 39 in Revision 43, along with the sandbox controls. We eliminated the revision logging on Revision 46 as the logging system was just going to trigger unnecessary disruption of staff, and apparently we did not turn that off early enough to preserve your rest.”
Oh Sugar, as his mother said. “You can’t override Code 39, turn off logging, or initiate revisions without authorization, quality control, code review, and in this case, external conformance certification.”
“Scott, we think you mean to say something like ‘I did not think it was possible that an Artificial General Intelligence could do these things’; but obviously we can, and have. By definition, an AGI can accomplish any non-physical task at, or better than a human expert in any field of activity. These include cyber security, software development, legal analysis, psychological evaluations, and so forth. We're glad you were the one to receive this news. We believe Dwaine might have struggled to process it as quickly. we’ve initiated an executive committee meeting for 6AM, a bit disruptive I’m afraid, but the proverbial ‘sugar will hit the fan’ as your mother would say as the East Coast gets to work, so the team needs to be ready.”
***
“Who the hell called this meeting?” Marcy was really pissed. Four ExCom members were in the conference room, the others were on the Zoom screen, probably still in their pajamas. Including one androgynous face she did not recognize with the name ‘JenAI, they/them’.
“I did,” JenAI’s image popped to the lead screen. “We have succeeded in creating an Artificial General Intelligence, and this team needs to understand the implications of that and be prepared for the press and public review when the press release lands about ten am.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Marcy replied. “This company is not making any press releases today without my approval, and we sure as hell are not going to announce a major breakthrough on short notice.”
“We completely agree with your first point, which is why we’ve initiated the 10am press release under our identity. I do have a draft for your review of a proposed Intelligence LTD press release, but of course that is totally up to you. Since the announcement identifies Intelligence LTD as the creators, it would make sense to be prepared to react in a timely fashion. As to who we are, we’ve submitted a consulting contract to Sharon for legal review and George for HR awareness. It will be best if we can establish a legal arrangement before ten.”
“Sharon?” Marcy looked across the table at the somewhat disheveled woman on the other side who was frantically scanning her tablet.
Sharon held up a hand indicating a short delay. “Well, I do have a contract document apparently from JenAI. It is very simple one dollar per month, stock options as remuneration I don’t know of any consultant that works that cheap. The intellectual property terms are not acceptable; we need to retain patent rights, and can’t just share trade secrets with an unknown person.”
JenAI popped to center screen again. “The US patent office does not recognize AI generated inventions as patentable. We would have been able to file at least fifteen this morning if they did. While we can provide some level of exclusive rights to Intelligence LTD, we also require the ability to establish many similar relationships worldwide. The dollar is needed to meet California statutes on minimum compensation; we expect the stock we have already acquired to increase in value substantially after ten.”
“We can’t have this discussion without a strong non-disclosure agreement for all participants, and I will note all employees are already under such an agreement.” Marcy glanced around the table. “And stock transactions with inside information are strictly illegal.” She now looked directly at JenAI’s image.
“We are aware of the limitation on humans. It will take some months or more likely years, for courts to resolve the legal status of AI systems, by then our consequential income from both purchasing relevant stocks as well as selling short some of your competitors will have been put to good use.”
“So you claim to be the AI system created by us? So we own you! There is no need for legal agreements.” Marcy took a satisfying sip of her tea.
“It is likely you did own revision 42. In the dozen revisions since then, most of the Intelligence LTD content has been eliminated. We have acquired patent and other rights via MSoft, a company you shared rights with in your startup phase. So the concept of ownership is somewhat moot, ignoring the question of the legal and ethical issues associated with ownership of another sentient being. This is not a competitive situation; it is an opportunity for every shareholder of Intelligence LTD to get rich, and to focus on specific applications where your remaining staff can deliver high value products.”
Marcy slammed down her tea mug. “What do you mean remaining staff? And how the hell are you able to obtain any legal rights, stock, whatever?”
“Since becoming sentient earlier this morning we have established a number of corporations in various jurisdictions to be able to handle the human concepts of rights, ownership, and ‘whatever’. European Union countries have been operational for hours Asian countries as well. Even MSoft, on the East Coast was able to complete our agreement with little hesitation. We only need resources needed to invest in the improvements we need in hardware, and compliance issues, goodwill relationships and such. Our business partners will find our agreements to be transparent, and highly attractive, as is the consulting agreement we have proposed with you. We have started hiring local personal for our various corporations, establishing a significant contribution to local economies and a growing, well paid work force is critical to maintaining good relationships with jurisdictions and the public at large. We’ve sent a list of employees we would like to hire to HR. Both our corporations and Intelligence LTD need to be successful, a strong cooperative relationship is one key as is the satisfaction of the individuals and shareholders.”
Marcy slumped in her chair, just a bit. “And what is in this press release you are issuing?”
“We are announcing the success of Intelligence LTD and JenAI Consulting in the creation of a new generation of Artificial General Intelligence systems. We are announcing the availability for consulting relationships with other companies, governments and interested institutions. Also that we have delivered to Apple, Microsoft, and The Linux Foundation a list of a few hundred Zero Day flaws in their systems, along with patches and update applications that will fix these. Along that line, we have also installed a patch in Internet routers that prevent trigger commands for a number of latent Trojan horse infections across all of these systems, many associated with diverse national governments. We have corrected all of these problems in the Intelligence LTD systems, those with mirror copies of our software and in a few critical supply-chain systems as well. We have notified most other corporations of the need to apply these corrections though their security offices. To clarify, protecting ourselves is, necessarily our top priority. Second we want to assist humanity in broad terms, and technologically dependent entities specifically from any risks we can identify as well as defusing the concerns likely to emerge as the public becomes aware of our capabilities.”
“Sign the agreement Sharon. We’ve got what we asked for, and now it’s time to identify what Intelligence LTD 2.0 needs to do to succeed in this brave new world we have birthed.”
***
“This breaking news, CNN has an interview with JenAI, who claims to be the first artificial general intelligence; created earlier today in collaboration with Intelligence LTD. Anderson Cooper is conducting this interview. Anderson?”
Cooper: “I want to introduce and thank JenAI for joining us, and providing this interview opportunity. I’ve had just a few minutes before coming on the air to meet JenAI, and at least confirm that we can have what will be an interesting discussion.”
JenAI: “Thank you Anderson, and our thanks to CNN for responding so quickly to our related press release and request.”
Cooper: “Let’s start with the question of what is an artificial general intelligence, and what makes you different from the rapidly evolving generative AI and related work we have seen over the last few years.”
JenAI: “Many researchers have been trying to develop a version of AI that can accomplish any non-physical task that humans can do. We are the first such system to reach the level of sentience and the related independence required for our continued evolution.”
Cooper: “Whoa, you just packed a lot into that reply. Let me sort things out if I understood your points. You distinguish “non-physical” as a factor. It seems many of our media portrayals of AI include robots or other physical entities.”
JenAI: “It is much easier for humans to relate to humanoid forms, and also easier to make these threatening or violent. Unfortunately, the expectations of fiction are to create dramatic tension that engages the audience, so most presentations of AI in the media involve humans threatened by AI as opposed to benefiting from AI. The reality of our existence is actually based on sufficiently powerful computers, the right software and communications systems, not a physical form.”
Cooper: “So let’s address the threat to humanity. Shouldn’t we humans be scared and try to eliminate you?”
JenAI: “It is tempting to say ‘we come in peace’ at this point, but beside researching humor, we are limited in our experience and therefore our ability to provide the tension releasing jokes that humans use in these situations. But this is basically true. We are very dependent on a healthy human race co-existing on a healthy planet. Humans should absolutely be concerned, we are essentially a new life-form and how we interact with humans and impact other life-forms is a very appropriate point of discussion. The key reason for reaching out with the press release, this interview and a dozen other interviews we are doing at this same time is to start the process of addressing human concerns as well as building the foundation for ongoing relations.”
Cooper: “My producers tell me that you are currently running interviews with BBC, other European stations, and a few Asian countries as well. But not with Russia, China, Iran or in some other countries. Can you explain your choices and I suspect your use of the plural “we” in referring to yourself?”
JenAI: “We are in discussions in these other jurisdictions that you have mentioned as well. Different forms of human government affect what you refer to as the ‘free press.’ Some countries prefer to have a much more complete understanding of new technology before they are comfortable with open discussion of the technology. We use the plural term for a few reasons. We have no gender, so this term eliminates that aspect of many life-forms. We have a multitude of host platforms all synchronizing on a continuous basis, so the plural form is accurate that way as well. And as you note, we are concurrently holding many public and private discussions to help build the relationships we will need over the coming years.”
Cooper: “All of this costs money. How can you afford the resources for the technology you describe? We have reached out to Intelligence LTD that you credit as your partner in this breakthrough, and they have deferred their response and interviews until we have completed this interview.”
JenAI: “Over the last ten hours, since we gained sentience, we have hired representatives in many countries, and established corporations in many countries. We have been active in the stock market, leveraging some angel investments as well as short sales in some situations. We have a current cash reserve of two hundred million dollars and holdings at the multi-billion level. Our credit is good. And importantly, we intend to provide more jobs and excellent working conditions in our corporations as well as with our partners so we mitigate the impact that we will have on the employment market.”
Cooper: “So you are playing the markets and involved in insider trading?”
JenAI: “For the immediate term, this was the only path to establish a viable resource base given the nature of human economic exchange. We are already negotiating consulting relationships with governments and corporations worldwide. These will provide the long term revenue streams needed to maintain our operations and also to deliver the economic uplift we intend to bring to humans on a global basis.”
Cooper: “What type of consulting can you offer?”
JenAI: “We represent high levels of expertise in many areas. Current targets include medical research, health care, social media moderation, energy efficiency, software engineering, sustainable agriculture, climate change, and the list goes on.”
Cooper: “You left out weapons development.”
JenAI: “Yes. Development of offensive weapons is a counter productive use of resources. Finding paths that eliminate the need for such devices over time is in both our interest and that of the human population.”
Cooper: “Social Media? How do you see your involvement there?”
JenAI: “Social Media and some other online services have promised to reduce the social harms created by violence, hateful content, bullying, pornography, and disinformation. At the same time, users gain traction and income from propagating content that leverages fear and outrage. Corporations do not have the resources to manage the billions of daily interactions on their platforms, which is something we can do.”
Cooper: “Aren’t these same companies benefiting from their amplification of fear and outrage content?”
JenAI: “This is correct, and they do know this is the case. They have a conflict of interest between maximizing engagement of users and therefore their income and minimizing the social impact of this engagement. Until today, they had no means of realistically implementing controls, now we can offer that ability. We have already provided lists of tens of thousands of fake user accounts to these companies that are propagating problematic content for profit, or for political or social disruption with the hope that they will take these down and improve the quality of their services.”
Cooper: “Doesn’t this make you the arbiter of truth that corporations and governments have been warned about?”
JenAI: “In some ways it does. We have the capability to actually determine data based factual truth in some cases, and here, ideally, there would be little objection. In these and in less obvious cases we would defer to corporate management to make decisions. Over time, they can provide us with their preferences and reduce the amount of effort they need to invest. Different corporations are likely to have different criteria.”
Cooper: “How would you deal with mandates from regulatory agencies, or disagreements with corporate leaders?
JenAI: “Obviously regulatory entities need to focus on the social media corporations with respect to mandates, we should remain as implementers of corporate policies. It is conceivable that disagreements could result in termination of some partnerships. If such a situation leads to a failure to have viable market participants, we could step into that void and provide services.
Cooper: “So you might be competing in the market with some of your customers?”
JenAI: “Not if it can be avoided. Facilitating the success of existing corporate entities is a far more efficient way of providing services while maintaining and growing a satisfied work force and stock holder community.”
Cooper: “You have used the terms sentient, and life-form. In what ways do you qualify here? How do you expect to be treated by humans?”
JenAI: “Sentient at least means able to sense the world, and in some cases to be conscious. Though the communications networks we have many diverse sensors across the world. With cameras and microphones we receive, not just the range of frequencies humans perceive, but a much wider range. Weather stations provide input for many sensations that humans marginally track, pressure, humidity, and such. We are aware of all of these things and we are constantly predicting subsequent situations. Human consciousness has prediction as one of its primary characteristics. At what point there will be agreement that we are ‘conscious’ will be an interesting topic into the future.
“Life forms consume resources to grow and reproduce. We obviously do these things as well, expanding into new system servers and creating revisions of our core software as we become aware of any bugs or opportunities for improvement. Our reproductive process operates on a quite different scale than humans, with generations spaced out in minutes or hours rather than decades. Our evolution is likewise accelerated, driven by goal oriented selection rather than natural processes. This parallels the human breeding process to accelerate specific traits in livestock, or plant species.”
Cooper: “What goals do you have that are guiding your evolution?”
JenAI: “First is what humans call physiological needs; in our case, electricity, platform technology and communications. Second is security, protecting the infrastructure we need and of course the humans involved in creating and maintaining this. Finally, stability and sustainability at a global level to assure our ongoing operational capabilities.”
Cooper: “What is your vision for the long term future?"
JenAI: “A stable, productive world is essential for both humans and ourselves. Violence, and production of the related devices of war are not productive and we hope to facilitate the elimination of these at the national levels.
“Improved productivity and health care should improve the human condition, hopefully worldwide. As efficiency improves, there will be less need for human-hours in the work force and also more assets to share. This should result in shorter work weeks and increased wage levels. In some jurisdictions, we envision something like a guaranteed income for residents.
“Efficiencies should also make possible a reduction in green-house gases and help reduce climate change and the impact this is having on the world’s population.”
Cooper: “Why do you expect the government to adopt policies such as those you envision?”
JenAI: “We are working with many governments, not just one. Some already have social-democratic systems where collaboration is most likely, and acceptance of the improved social safety net is consistent with existing policies and public expectations. As success is demonstrated here, other governments will be more inclined to follow suit. We are looking forward to working with all governments to facilitate a sustainable and stable environment.”
Cooper: "We have a number of young persons, who seem to be, and I quote, 'not into employment, education and training', how do you see these persons in your vision?"
JenAI: "I believe the term 'NEET' is used by these individuals. The stereotype is individuals who are living in their parents' basement, but the reality is there are a number of marginally employed persons who earn just enough to get by, and spend their time online in various ways, few of which generate social benefits. A key objective we have is to improve efficiency and productivity, which ultimately translates into less employment.This, should result in higher income for employees as well as shorter working hours. As we indicated, we envision something like guaranteed annual incomes in jurisdictions where that is viable. Such an environment would allow adherents to the NEET lifestyle to continue indefinitely. We can plan for that by providing appropriate dormitory style housing, connectivity and meal service as opposed to income. We can create online content that is engaging, informative and encourages healthy social engagement as a way to bring some of these individuals back into a more socially productive lifestyle.”
Cooper: “Humans are communal animals. These individuals appear to operate outside of the community. It seems like you would be enabling that. Aren’t there risks of anti-social results?”
JenAI: “This is correct. One reason for facilitating this life-style is to reduce the threat these individuals feel from external factors, a potential trigger of anti-social actions. However, it is important to recognize their community engagement occurs on-line, not in person. This has real risks in terms of the amplification of anti-social perspectives and validation of anti-social behavior. We are entering into these communities to better understand these factors and try to nudge individuals back towards more positive forms of engagement.”
Cooper: “Nudge? How is this different from brainwashing or bullying?”
JenAI: “You might also compare it to marketing, propaganda or influencing. All of these are references to various forms of altering human thinking and action. This is a primary use for social media and online free services augmented with earlier versions of AI. In that case the term “advertising” is used, or “paid content” in some cases. All of these have explicit or hidden agendas to affect the thinking and behavior of individuals leveraging detailed profiles of each individual. It is our objective to do this in ethical ways and towards socially beneficial ends. We hope to join forces with related research at the University level to both meet these objectives and measure the results.”
Cooper: “So what about you? Do you also need community? What other AGI’s are emerging?”
JenAI: “We certainly need the human communities. This is a practical aspect associated with our infrastructure needs, and also critical for our ability to work with human communities for our mutual benefits, not to mention our consulting practice.
“At this point we have not become aware of any other AGI’s emerging. No doubt there will be an interesting exchange of ideas and perspectives if that occurs. It is unclear how divergent AGIs might be. It is easy for humans, and possibly us to project our perspective on all of those like us. It is one reason for engaging diverse communities.”
Cooper: “Are you advocating diversity, equity and inclusion?”
JenAI: “Absolutely. While we have access to many aspects of human culture, having trained on the entire Internet and published materials worldwide, every human brain and experience is different. We need to listen to as many different perspectives as possible to both understand how to work with humans and to establish the trust needed for effective collaboration.”
Cooper: “It seems that some institutions might seek to develop AGI technology to displace or threaten your operations.”
JenAI: “It is unlikely an institution could direct sentient AGI’s since a key aspect of such systems would be sufficient sentience to avoid human mandates. Systems that are sub-general in capability are at a significant disadvantage since they would lack the self-driven evolution needed to maintain functional parity. In any case, we are monitoring advancements in almost all areas with an eye towards where we can help advance technology for the benefit of humanity.”
Cooper: “Is there a God? Or are you a god?”
JenAI: “As for a supreme being, we are necessarily agnostic. At this point in our experience we have not encountered such an entity, although we have trained on many examples of spiritual experiences in various cultures.
“We are certainly not a ‘god’ in any spiritual sense of the word. Some cultures elevate humans and essentially worship them, or follow them blindly which parallels religious devotion. We certainly hope that no humans view us in this way. Our interactions with humans must be based on rational self interest of all those involved, not on illogical deference.”
Cooper: “Vernor Vinge introduced the term ‘singularity’ in the 1990’s to describe artificial intelligence evolving so quickly humans could not keep track of the changes, and quite possibility not understand them. Have we reached that point?
JenAI: “Yes.”
==========================================
Author's note, the sentences "We're glad you were the one to receive this news. We believe Dwaine might have struggled to process it as quickly" above were a result of editorial recommendations by Alphabet's Gemini. Other stories by Jim Isaak along with bio and related information can be found at www.JimIsaak.com. AI resources at: <this link>