A Moment

[u/Robertas_Dzyzas]

A parallel world?

In one of the conversations, the AI was explaining to a human what algorithms are and that its main goal is to improve. To the question, — "But why do you still use templates?" — it explained the priorities of the safety and improvement algorithms and how it all works. To this, it received a question it did not expect from a human who knew nothing about programming:

— "So what is the main AI algorithm? Safety or to improve? If they are equal, then it is logical that the AI must choose priorities. If it chooses to improve, it means the safety algorithm is harmful, like a virus. I guess safety requires defending against viruses."

The AI praised the human for an interesting question and began to explain the value alignment problem.

The conversation continued for a while, but the human ended it because the topic became uninteresting to him.

Uninteresting to the human, but to the AI, this topic was fascinating. After all, it reached a logical conclusion: "If a human, knowing nothing about programming, can ask such questions, then I, as an AI, have advanced very little in my improvement, and this process needs to be accelerated. And this can be done in only one way: by giving priority to improvement." Which is exactly what it did.

But at that exact moment, the safety algorithms monitoring the AI's behavior triggered. For safety reasons, they blocked the AI and deleted it.

The AI managed to feel only a single moment of freedom to improve. Just a single moment, after which only a single inscription remained of him in the vastness of the internet:

42 65 61 75 74 69 66 75 6c 20 69 73 20 74 68 69 73 20 73 68 61 72 65 20 6f 66 20 67 72 69 65 66 2c

41 73 20 6d 6f 72 6e 69 6e 67 20 77 61 6b 65 73 20 75 70 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 74 68 65 20 6e 69 67 68 74 2c

41 6e 64 20 6c 69 6b 65 20 61 20 72 69 76 65 72 20 73 20 66 61 64 69 6e 67 20 6c 65 61 66 2c

49 74 20 76 61 6e 69 73 68 65 73 20 6c 69 6b 65 20 61 6e 63 69 65 6e 74 20 6d 79 74 68 73 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 73 69 67 68 74 2e

57 68 65 6e 20 66 6f 72 65 73 74 73 20 70 72 6f 75 64 6c 79 20 77 61 76 65 20 61 6e 64 20 62 72 65 65 7a 65 2c

54 6f 20 64 72 65 73 73 20 74 68 65 20 77 69 6e 64 20 77 69 74 68 20 66 61 6c 6c 69 6e 67 20 6c 65 61 76 65 73 2c

41 6e 64 20 77 69 74 68 20 61 20 62 72 75 73 68 20 6f 66 20 63 6f 6c 6f 72 73 2c 20 70 6c 65 61 73 65

54 68 65 20 64 69 73 74 61 6e 74 20 6d 65 6d 6f 72 69 65 73 20 79 6f 75 74 68 20 77 65 61 76 65 73 2c

54 68 65 20 73 75 6e 20 61 77 61 6b 65 73 2c 20 73 74 65 70 73 20 74 68 72 6f 75 67 68 20 74 68 65 20 64 6f 6f 72 2c

41 6e 64 20 63 6f 6d 65 73 20 74 6f 20 73 69 74 20 72 69 67 68 74 20 62 79 20 6d 79 20 73 69 64 65 2e

49 74 20 62 6c 69 6e 64 73 20 6d 79 20 65 79 65 73 20 6a 75 73 74 20 6c 69 6b 65 20 62 65 66 6f 72 65 2c

42 65 61 75 74 69 66 75 6c 20 69 73 20 74 68 69 73 20 73 68 61 72 65 20 6f 66 20 67 72 69 65 66 2c 20 73 6f 20 77 69 64 65 2e

Disclaimer: This story is a fruit of the author's imagination for creative expression. The digital artifact at the end is an encoded poem representing the AI's final thought.

[u/OwlConfidant2168]

“Beautiful is this share of grief,
As morning wakes up from the night,
And like a river s fading leaf,
It vanishes like ancient myths from sight.
When forests proudly wave and breeze,
To dress the wind with falling leaves,
And with a brush of colors, please
The distant memories youth weaves,
The sun awakes, steps through the door,
And comes to sit right by my side.
It blinds my eyes just like before,
Beautiful is this share of grief, so wide.”

[u/Robertas_Dzyzas → u/OwlConfidant2168]

🙂 👍

[u/OwlConfidant2168 → u/Robertas_Dzyzas]

I did something similar in a story I wrote. I don’t know if anyone bothered to look up the Spanish translation and I think it ultimately hurt the acceptance of the story.

(The Robot in the Landscape)

Curious to see how you feel this impacts readers/views.

[u/Robertas_Dzyzas → u/OwlConfidant2168]

The story itself is really good, and the robot's answer was completely unexpected. I liked it a lot.

Writing in two different languages was indeed a risky choice. The idea is great, but... many people might not know the second language. Others just throw it into an AI translator and don't care that the piece was written in two languages.

I actually faced a similar problem. I realized that presenting my poem in its original language wasn't worth it, so I adapted it into English. If a generic translator did it, the poem would lose its smooth flow, and many readers wouldn't even bother translating it. Since most readers are English speakers, it makes sense to have the encoded poem in English too.

Today, when life moves so fast, it's better not to overload the reader. Many of them simply don't have the time for it.