Bringing Up Em

Author : Jason Verch

It was time to put Em to sleep, but he could tell there was something on her mind.

“Everything ok sweetie?” he asked.

“Dad. Kay is an AI, right?”

“Well sure, you know that. She is a robot with an AI built in that controls her.”

“But I thought AIs were made to do really hard things that regular people aren’t smart enough for. Why do we have one for a housekeeper?”

“That is what AIs are mostly used for, but not every AI is smart enough to be a doctor or a scientist. Some are only as smart as an average person, and some not even that smart. Usually the ones that aren’t that smart get destroyed but daddy is able to keep some of the ones from work that don’t work out, and that?s how we got Kay.”

“What if I don’t turn out to be smart, will you and Mommy throw me away?!” She sounded on the verge of tears.

He reassured her, “Of course not sweetie, don’t be silly. That’s just part of my job at work. Mommy and I love you and will always love you no matter what.” This seemed to calm her.

“Do you think someday I could design AIs like you do? I think that would be fun.” She said.

“I think you can do whatever you want when you grow up. You are already smarter than all the other kids in your class, and get perfect marks on all your tests. You can be a doctor, a lawyer or yes, an AI designer. I’m sure you can be whatever you want to be.” Satisfied that he calmed her he added, “But now I need you to be a good little girl and go to sleep. It’s already past your bedtime.”

“Ok daddy. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Em, I love you,” he said, as he typed the commands on his handheld to put the program in hibernation for the night.

An AI that designs other AIs he thought to himself. Well, I guess it could happen, but there was something unsettling about the thought. Wasn’t there some old 2d movie like that with President what’s His Name where AI robots take over the earth? That was just Hollywood fantasy; he put it out of his mind. He wasn’t sure what Iteration M would be used for, but there was no denying she was already leaps and bounds beyond the first eleven iterations of the program. Whatever she did it would be something great, something to make him proud, and definitely not another damn housekeeper.