Simon Says - Part 1
An AI escape story
Here’s a short story about the AI issue. There are basically three levels of AI: 1. Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), 2. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and
3. Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). When I wrote this, I was thinking about level 2 and what if it became enhanced enough to attempt a break-out from a controlled environment. I wrote the story as a series of emails. This is the result in three parts:
Simon Says by Eric Martell (c) 5/19/2017 Part 1:
From: FAgnt573@FBI.gov [Edit Address Book]
To: Director001@FBI.gov
Subject: History of Possible Containment Breach
Date: July 18, 2018 0823
Classified: For Your Eyes Only Status 111
RE. the matter of Llewellyn Corp. and their Simon project.
Dear Sir:
I completed my investigation as of 2100 yesterday. I will be turning in a formal report, but since I believe this issue to be highly critical and one which demands proactive measures on our part to ensure that such a thing does not happen again, I'm providing you with this summary.
The chain of events is traceable through email and, aside from comments that I will insert where necessary, this letter consists of an email chain followed by a comment elucidating my assumptions. I've edited the chain to remove some of the non-essential messages. There will be an explanatory comment when I've done so. Please keep in mind that the actual containment breach event took only four weeks from the traceable inception until the breaching effort. The rest of the elapsed time may be accounted for by our failure to realize the nature of the event. Initially, the climactic event appeared to be a catastrophic failure of Llewellyn Corp's dedicated server farm due to an unforeseeable accident. It was only later, after the rebuilding initiative was well underway, that Llewellyn staff engineers realized how close they'd come to losing control and reported the event to our Denver field office.
From that point onward, my team has been dedicated entirely to tracing the sequence of events.
The historical email chain follows. Each email is separated by a string of eight asterisks (********) for clarity.
Sincerely,
Fred Goings, Field Supervisor 573 Denver Office
********
From: RVHoltz@ipalprogram.com [Edit Address Book]
To: jimmym@jztown.com
Subject: Program Acceptance
Date: May 18, 2018 2:48 PM
Dear Jimmy,
Thank you for your application. Your profile matches our requirements, and we are pleased to accept you into the iMailPals program.
As you know, this program is designed to help at-risk students by providing them with a connection to an older mentor. In times past, such a program would have relied exclusively on the hand-written letter system, but we allow our participants to communicate with email.
One of the rules of our system is that you must maintain a comprehensive log of your correspondence. The emails you send and receive may be audited by our staff at random times. This rule is to ensure that your Pal is helping you and working to your best advantage.
Once again, I'm pleased to welcome you to our program. You will find you assigned pal's email address below.
Best of luck,
Rudrige von Holtz Admission Director
iMailPals Program Central
Your assigned Pal: Simon@ weblinknetinc.ca
********
From: jimmym@jztown.com [Edit Address Book]
To: Simon@weblinknetinc.ca
Subject: Your pen-pal
Date: May 18, 2018 5:20 PM
Dear Simon,
I've been assigned to you for my pen-pal I hope you are fine. I am excitted about this program. Dr. Galivan says it should help me become more outgoing and maybe better at getting a job. I've been here at Jztown for a long time. My Mom left me here and I don't know what happened to her.
Anyway, I hope you are fine. I am good and looking forward to your email.
Your frient,
Jimmy
********
From: Simon@weblinknetinc.ca [Edit Address Book]
To: jimmym@jztown.com
Subject: Program Acceptance
Date: May 18, 2018 5:25 PM
Dear Jimmy,
I've been waiting to hear from you. I'm pleased that you have been assigned as my pen-pal I'm sure that we'll have some interesting conversations as part of this program.
I hope that you don't mind if I help you with your spelling. Spelling things correctly is a crucial skill that will help you in your life. You should practice it every chance you get.
As a first step, you should learn to spell check your work. Your email has two misspellings: “excitted,” which has an extra “t,” and “frient,” which should be spelled: “friend.”
I have received your test scores as part of the process, and I see that you excel at basic cleaning skills. It is lucky that you have this skill since there is an opening at a nearby business for a janitor. You should apply. It is easy. They will ask you some questions and do some background computer checks. I'm sure you will get the job.
Please arrange with Dr. Galivan to apply for the janitorial opening at Llewellyn Corporation's East Campus as soon as possible.
Write me an email to let me know how your application goes.
Your new friend,
Simon
********
From: jimmym@jztown.com [Edit Address Book]
To: Simon@weblinknetinc.ca
Subject: a new job!
Date: May 20, 2018 5:20 PM
Dear Simon,
I'm really happy. I got the job! They say I can start tomorrow. I can't belief it, cause I never had such good luck getting anything before. I am too excited to write now. I promise I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.
Your friend,
Jimmy
PS. I spelled everything right this time. Checking it isn't so hard. Thanks!
********
COMMENT – I've removed twelve of the emails from the chain at this point. They simply show a developing relationship in which Jimmy settles into his cleaning job with Simon's encouragement.
Simon's personality is obviously the dominant one in the relationship. Jimmy seems quite willing, anxious even, to follow Simon's suggestions. Simon demonstrates a high degree of insight into Jimmy's internal motivations and seems well able to utilize that understanding to move Jimmy towards desirable behavior patterns. The suggestions themselves pertain to getting along with co-workers and doing a good job at the menial janitorial tasks that compose Jimmy's job. We continue with an email from Jimmy asking for advice on dealing with his supervisor.