#idk programmers WANT ai to be able to do human jobs

[bewires]

the disconnect between the way people who work on and with AI talk about it and the reporting/social media discourse on it makes it incredibly hard to have a meaningful conversation about it

[tanoraqui]

the Magnus Archives science fiction au we deserve:

Magnus Research Station, researching ??? 

among other things probably, its not just automated but actually houses an experimental AI: the Surveying Intelligence Machine System, SIMS for short

also known as “the Archivist”

also known as “Jonathan”, or more often “Jon” 

the experiment is, on paper, to see if this computer can learn to be a person through 24/7 observation of people (archiving all data gained), including conversing with them, and also doing typical AI experiments like generating movie titles or recognizing weird dogs as dogs

in order to work at Magnus, all employees have to sign a contract saying they're okay with all record of their lives being taken and preserved by the station AI. They also probably have to get, like, microchipped, so the Archivist can monitor blood pressure, hormonal balance, etc, and draw conclusions about human emotions and though processes

Our Main Cast:

Jon, a curious AI who wants to be the best he can be and is kind of snobby about it

Tim, a flirtatious AI researcher with a somewhat TBD angsty backstory

Sasha, a cool-headed AI researcher who is inarguably the most competent one on the team

Martin, not so much an AI researcher as a moderately competent electronic forger. Specifically, of his resumé. To get this job 

Elias, the station administrator, with some intelligent computing background but seemingly not involved with anything but the practical operational concerns of the various experiments on Magnus Station, including the Archivist

has cybernetic eyes that are definitely not capable of receiving live feeds of anything Jon’s omnipresent cameras or those microchips see, without Jon knowing about it, because Elias has long-since override-commanded him to fulfill any information requests then instantly erase the memory of both request and fulfillment

definitely not

also is definitely not planning/working on him being able to take over, collect and analyze data from, and control much more complex systems than one isolated (low-orbit??) scientific research station and its denizens. Definitely not

I’m not sure if he wants to upload his own mind and supplant Jon once the whole terrible world-controlling system is set up, or just smugly hold the reins

Additional Cast Added Later:

Michael and later Helen: a not-quite-failed experiment in creating full AI by uploading a human mind to a computer. Definitely kinda nuts, sometimes thinks others should join them

Georgie, a highly skilled freelance computer programmer who did a lot of work on Jon’s original personality matrix

The Admiral, Georgie’s cat-shaped pet robot, whom she tweaks as a hobby. May or may not have laser eyes and near-sentient AI himself, at this point

Basira, a computer science expert from the...science space cops, idk, I haven’t worldbuilt this that much. Likes to learn

Daisy, a cybernetically enhanced...science space cop, and Basira’s partner. Would rather Basira doesn’t know neither how much of her is machine nor how okay she feels about killing people

Melanie, a...you know what, I’m going to go with space science journalist. With anger issues

Notable In Absentia:

Gertrude, the previous station AI, whose failure no one really talks about

Revelation 1: this is because she went rogue, and it had a death toll, and an executive decision was made not to tell Jon so as to not freak him out and/or give him ideas

Revelation 2, sometime later: “went rogue” mostly means “figured out what Elias wanted and then stopped going along with it”

Jurgen Leitner, a computer programmer who worked with Gertrude and left all sorts of weird bugs in the system, signed, that periodically cause Jon and the station to glitch

did you know that if your AI finally finds and drags into a viewable place a rogue old hacker who’s been messing with your evil science experiments for nearly 2 decades, and before they can finish having a usefully explanatory conversation, you go down and murder the bastard, then order your AI to forget you were ever there...your AI will be very scared and confused?

I have no idea how not!Sasha would work in this - Jon could be infected with some sort of obliteratingly clever virus that rewrites his memories, but Tim and Martin couldn’t be, I don’t want the microchips to be that sophisticated. I’m not actually sure how the whloe Unknowing would work - evil androids? But what are they trying to do? And what are...any other entities...? 

Actually, Simon Fairchild being a fully functional and self-liberated AI who’s several hundred years old and just doing his own thing, which periodically involves murder for fun, is really good

Jane et all is definitely some sort of invading AI/hyperintelligent virus + a ton of tiny invasive station-sabotaging, flesh-dissolving robots. Oooh or nanobots?

Jon hates Martin so much at first not just because he doesn’t think Martin is using him for ambitious enough AI experiments (which is true, bc Martin has no idea what he’s doing) but because, in the hiring process, Jon 100% figured out that Martin’s resumé is bullshit, but Elias wants nitwits who won't question things to much, so he ordered Jon to forget his conclusion and accept the resumé as true, and subconsciously this grates Jon like a sand in an oyster

[unproduciblesmackdown]

also i’ve been mulling over the “we’re Living ex machina!!!!” line and like, it still doesn’t make sense Really, but here’s my Afternoon Musings i guess

i’ve only actually seen ex machina once like 3 years ago but as i remember it goes a little something like This: some rando white-collar programmer guy has like, won a contest where the prize is to go hang out for maybe a few days or a week or so with this ~visionary genius~ tech dude played by oscar isaac at oscar isaac tech dude’s off-the-grid reclusive mansion or whatever.......i thiiiink the Protag Programmer won b/c his programming submission was Really Good but also maybe there’s a [randomly selected] element to it, or maybe we Think it was partly random selection but then learn it was actually All “yeah i chose you b/c your coding was the Best,” idk. doesn’t really matter but anyway yeah protag guy gets helicoptered in to the oscar isaac genius bro’s secret mansion 

oscar isaac soon reveals he has this advanced ai android whomst he wants the Protagonist to study / turing test, and the protagonist does that, but during one Conversation Session with this android (who is named ava i think? and designed to Look Like a Woman oo) like the lights turn off and ava-i-think informs the protagonist she’s found a Weakness in the mansion’s security system and hackt it so that the power (and thus the Security / Monitoring Systems) shut down for a minute like this but could feasibly be thought of as a glitch and anyways she’s like yeah i have feelings and thoughts and i want to Not Be Trapped here, ya gotta help me out here buddy, and then yknow ooh the systems come back on, oscar isaac can Observe them again, intrigue.....tl;dr protag and ava keep having these short secret convos and Do plan to break her out, there’s this dramatic moment where oscar isaac (who’s natch been acting weirder and more erratic as the plot unfolds) confronts the protag after the protag has just like, tried to get him blackout smashed by Hanging Out With Him lmfao and oscar isaac is like “ooh i knew you were planning to break her out, i’m gonna stop you guys though haha pwned” but then oh further twist, turns out ava and protag Knew that was the case and were thinking one step ahead and idk but yeah they break her out and oscar isaac dies but ooh further twist!!! ava locks the protag (or well, just Does Not Unlock, As Planned) in some room and leaves the mansion and gets on the Helicopter meant to take the protag back to wherever after the planned end of his stay. and the protag is just stuck there b/c everyone else is dead and presumably he dies as ava gets to exist in the outside world now, idk, we don’t need ex machina 2 where he’s escaped or smthing lmao

and i do NOT get what winston is comparing their situation to lmfao. like, oh rian is like an advanced ai android??? if anything, her being the more like ~true believer in High Finance as a means of socially beneficial effect~ vs winston like, having the supposedly cutthroat and cold Math approach would make Him more of the ~oh no more a robot than a person~ (though i think it’s Ambiguous whether we wanna judge ava as more Scary Bad or Sympathetic).........you can’t even really make the connection that “oh no we’re being deliberately Replaced!!” b/c if winston is [protag programmer rando] and rian is [ava] and wendy is, i guess oscar isaac then, uhhhh oscar isaac most definitely did Not intend to ~replace~ the protag with ava, he very much wanted her trapped in his mansion still........and the protagonist Only got “replaced” by ava in the sense that she took his place on the helicopter out of the reclusive secret mansion. i really doubt she planned to, or would even be able to, like take over his identity/life beyond that.....certainly not his job lol like, coworkers are gonna notice you’re a different person, there was no implication the androids can like oh shapeshift their appearance or whatever, and no implications about what ava even intended to do in the Outside World which is kind of bemusing b/c like, what of the Practical Questions of being an android and needing whatever Fuel Source a robot does, idk that might’ve been addressed or smthing like “oh yeah they can just Eat,” also she clearly does not Trust People considering her only company was evil oscar isaac creator and she wasn’t interested in bringing the protag along, plus yknow the fact that she Did deliberately manipulate the protag into thinking that she wanted to escape into the world With him........but not like i guess she has any choice for any other world to escape into but the one with all the people where she pretends to be an organic human

like there is just NO point of comparison where these situations line up unless you get soooooooo like broad strokes about ex machina that you’d do better to compare your experience to Anything else lmao. like, does winston think she’s some like, ideal advanced version of him?? like you might consider a crafted AI android to be?? i don’t know but i mean i think we have a more feasible explanation for why he’s so Insistent about this totally being Ex Machina, if only b/c as a straightforward comparison i swear to god it doesn’t work lmfao None of these points line up at all with any significance that’s worth insisting on

given that winston’s Apparently Canonically meant to be crushing on rian, and we have his example of ribbing her by calling her “gal gadot’s quirky sister” which is like, okay so the dunk is “you look similar to this famous a-lister who everyone thinks is pretty” and “also you’re quirky, boom” like, i think that could easily be meant as like, a Tell that winston already ~likes~ her.............aaaand it’s also somewhat ~ambiguous~ but i mean i think it’s safe to say that in Ex Machina you may understand the protag as having Fallen For the ai android lady. so maybe we can Understand this invocation of ex machina as being like “ooh person meant to replace me is Attractive but ultimately i think this Overall Situation is a bad thing i shouldn’t feel this way i resent it” like, a bit of a Reach, but honestly it’s way more of a reach to think about applying anything else about this scenario to ex machina, so i could v much believe that the thought that went behind writing this is once again, like, “okay winston’s invoking one thing on the surface level here, but simultaneously he’s already (inadvertently probably) acknowledging like oh also i have a crush on her already”

between this episode seeming to be Setup and the [winston has a Canon crush] and the fact that it probably seems like They Will Fuck A Nonzero Number Of Times or Make Out At Least But It’s Billions So, Might Get A Humorous Cut To [Postcoital] Or A Scene Where They Arrive At Work Together Short Of Breath With Messy Hair  And Hickies And Winston’s Got A Hoodie W/ “Property Of Rian” On It Until He Goes "Oh Shit Woops” And Hands It To Her And She’s Like “Oh Btw You Forgot Your Glasses.....Uh You Left Them Here On Your Desk Yesterday I Mean Of Course” And Hands Them To Him And An Unnamed Character Stands Up And Asks “Daily Poll: Who Had Sex With A Coworker Last Night” And Rian And Winston Raise Their Hands Before Going “Oh Wait” And Lowering Them With A Shake Of The Head And A Nervous Cough and i’m exaggerating but you know, the equivalent of the billions writing saying “wwinnnk” at us. i am fine with them having an unsolemn like, quasi-rivals-to-lovers (or -And-lovers) dynamic, even with it being a bit messy in like, still an overall Fun way, where yknow it doesn’t have to be peak epic romance cuz a) that’s just Always true and yet it can still be overall an okay thing even if they don’t quite get it together / mostly just trade sparks and sometimes hook up and b) idk seems like mayybe rian’s character isn’t meant to go beyond this season, so, an inherent limit there if true

i’m like Apologetic for being like “already i like their dynamic even as Romantique and it’s kinda cute and fun and i’m willing to continue to be engaged w/ this as long as the writing doesn’t completely fuck it up” lmao like, i guess i Did inadvertently give myself time to prepare for this exact eventuality b/c of wondering if this exact character would have A Thing w/ winston whenever she showed up and even if i was like “haha the character could show up Anywhere and do Anything and what are the odds, right” i was also like “hmm but i’m going to really think about it though” like, as always, didn’t think i was cassandraing that hard, but truly did do it 4x03 style where everyone else can be like “you never [made the text post or gave any indication you were thinking about “what if whoever she plays and winston have some kind of romance thing going on”]” and i can go “i only thought it but didn’t say it....doesn’t count” but well. i did think it lmao and why would i make it up.......sorry i had such a head start on Getting More Used To This Notion.......some crimes can never be forgiven.meme.......

anyways natch “intense horrible passionate” seems a little foreboding but maybe she was talking about it relative to [any Normal show] rather than the standards we’re used to on billions, where this was all but a Meet Cute, and a kind of quasi coworker rivalry where nobody’s taking it *that* deeply seriously and they also seem to mutually like each other by the end of 5x05 already so how not-amicable can it get. and re: Intense like, maybe the writing in future episodes will totally upend this, but i’d say rian and winston in 5x05, even when “clashing,” was like damn near laidback and chill. neither of them seem at all that pressed, but maybe even a sorta-playful Friendly Rivalry is more “intense” than, say, a dynamic that involves no rivalry at all. imo “Passionate” is just like, okay, so they’ll fuck or at least make out? sure. not sure what to make of “horrible” lmfao maybe again it’s addressing like “this is a lil messy and they’re kinda rivals!!!” like, certainly not an ideal start, except by billions standards it IS weirdly great. rian seeming good-naturedly amused by winston is something we didn’t get from his longtime-coworkers until like, now, sort of, and still not to the degree that anyone has smiled at him as many times as rian did in like that course of [1 min long First Scene Together] wherein also winston always gets off to a way worse start with people lmao............like everything about this seems Way Better And More Dialed Back And Grounded than usual, actually. but it’s that like, point of reference of “what’s Usual for winston and, more broadly, Billions” that maybe explains this weirdly strong language when all in 5x05 seemed chill actually

anyways like i said Sorry For Already Liking Rian/Winston This Much with my head start and all where like, i’m even tentatively looking forward to seeing where this goes, by “tentative” i also mean going [”i’ll kill you” the office.jpg] at billions where i am fully aware that maybe where this goes *is* a mess and not in like, just kind of a fun, non-melodramatic, not-treated-like-a-total-joke-but-also-not-that-big-a-deal way, where 5x05 could seem like Those Halcyon Days b/c everything from here out just devolves into an unappealing disaster.......but this is an unexpectedly solid start imo and like. even if this doesn’t become like this epic romance where they officially date and if rian does eventually depart the show by the end of the season, it can still just be Enjoyable and Fun for the characters and, god forbid, the viewers, where like, you don’t have to demand we be desperately invested with our entire life in this deadly serious heartwrenching epic romance, they can just kind of mess around and enjoy having a mutual attraction w/ this mathy rivalry and etc and it’s neither a tragedy of “the greatest love story of all time torn asunder” Or, truly god forbid,” this is a Whole Mess In A Bad Way b/c winston’s involved and ugh who could Really like him, being at all romantically entangled is an embarrassing mistake surely, ew cringe we hate him............like, cautiously optimistic in how like i always say that a Romantic Arc is just an easy/efficient way to develop both characters and it could certainly humanize winston an ounce in a show that treats him more like a walking algorithmic plot device and the thoughts of any viewers but us are limited to “winston annoying” basically........the show doesn’t seem to treat rian as a joke, so it seems possible that their mutual Romance in whatever way it unfolds could also be Not A Joke, which means winston’s part in it isn’t a joke, so that’s Some aspect of him for people to take seriously, for once..........like, the way his apparently-already-official crush played out in 5x05 *was* funny but it also didn’t seem like oh it’s a joke b/c his feelings are a total joke......it might seem that way if this *was* totally unrequited and going nowhere, but i somewhat get the sense that the interest is mutual even by the end of the ep, that didn’t strike me as a “shove off, it could Never Happen” shutdown from rian there, just like, hold off on that for rn maybe cue to rein it in a little, not just yet........anyways lmao i’m like “oh yeah i started this post about the baffling ex machina thing” but yeah the point is i think so far it’s pretty solid and i like it and am cautiously but [relative-to-billions level of Hopeful] about whatever developments we’re surely gonna get b/c it def sounds like this has Not ended with 5x05, but seriously @ billions i swear to god. yes so far the approach to winston’s crush here and even their unfolding mutual dynamique and dare i say, romantic interest, is being handled with an encouraging level of “this is Humorous but the characters / their feelings are not what’s being treated as A Total Joke or anything,” but who knows what will come next, this is billions and you can’t predict anything. fingers crossed about it all, though

[kizunatsudoishi]

Machine Lifeforms!AU

(Inspired by this. Because this boss' backstory is so tragic and amazing. Also I think I have to organise my random ideas if I ever wanna look back or sth idk)

Crazy rant under the cut?

So instead of alien science, the SOLDIERs are robots. Well actually every being on Gaia now is robot...and aliens. Gaia is festered with aliens (like Jenovas idk), human is believed to fled the planet to the moon and SOLDIERs are war machines that are sent down to Gaia to fight the aliens and reclaim it for the humanity. SOLDIERs are pre-programmed to be very loyal to humanity (much like the androids in Nier Automata).

Sephiroth is one of the most vicious war machines, the most successful (as in most efficient and most deprived of emotions) and most powerful prototype. He cares nothing besides the ultimate goal for humanity.

Cloud is one of the standard mechanic robots who are in charge of maintenance works for the SOLDIERs. These robots have the AI to “learn from past mistakes" so that it can self-improve its AI and work better. Due to some carelessness of some programmer, Cloud's AI is “faulty", as in it makes him question not only the mechanic wounds, but also everything that is. 

He starts to question the surrounding, the odd creatures crawling the planet, the humans, what they look like, what they think,... and then he learns human emotions, which is normally unacceptable for robots. He starts to question why... and then he starts to question his own existence as a mechanic robot. He wonders why the human created him like this and not like the SOLDIERs; how his existence is limited here in the SOLDIER base; he finds out that he craves for something more. 

(tl;dr: he became too curious for a robot)

Along with his learning, Cloud comes to realize that he is fascinated with Sephiroth, how his AI and design allows him to be the best of them all, how he is unlimited within the base and to see the world with his own eyes. (welp mechanic laser eyes). Cloud soon becomes “fixated" with Sephiroth. Any data flow that is involved “Sephiroth", he would save it to his own database.

To sate his curiosity of Sephiroth and the world of Gaia, Cloud hacks the system so that he’s in charge of Sephiroth’s maintenance. Cloud asks about Sephiroth himself; his missions; his experience in the abandoned world of Gaia (Cloud lies that such information is for his upgrades) and Sephiroth tells all (as he deems necessary). But the more he asks, the more curious Cloud becomes. 

He asks can he go out there and see the world. Sephiroth thinks that is a ridiculous request for a maintenance robot, as only combat robots like SOLDIERs are allowed on the field. Cloud then ceases to ask questions.

Being a mechanic robot, Cloud is also responsible to do his own maintenance works and upgrades. 

At one time, a thought occurs to Cloud's stream of “thoughts" when he’s doing his monthly upgrade, that what if he putting parts on himself, strong enough to become a SOLDIER, he can go out there, see the world with his own eyes. His questions for the world and his existence; his “extent of importance" will then be answered.

His AI starts processing; how it can become “stronger"; what parts will he need; how can he attach it to his core; which parts of himself he can discard and replace; how can he evaluate the performance...

And the AI that is already fixated on the best war machine logics that, if even the best war machine deems him “strong” enough, no other robots or even commands can stop him. 

(Also, some part of Cloud craves for Sephiroth's attention.)

Cloud starts to gather robot parts. He starts with the discarded ones in the junk yard; fixes them and installs.

With every upgrade, he enquires Sephiroth, looking forward to his reaction. Sephiroth just looks at him, finding his behavior to be peculiar, but only replies that Cloud should focus on his maintenance work. Cloud ceases to asks questions. Out loud that is. His CPU is heated with “why"s instead.

He then starts digging in the robot graveyard. (He thinks that he should look for SOLDIER parts). That would definitely impress Sephiroth.

Sephiroth, again, assumes that this is a part of Cloud's self-learning AI, doesn't give much impression.

Cloud wonders where he has missed. 

3 times. He insists that he will find a way. To become stronger. To garner the best war machine’s attention. He doesn't know why he wants it, but he just does.

9 times. He tries to process more possibilities. His CPU is overheated and it's damaging his system. But he doesn't care (?). 

23 times. He starts to get frustrated. He had tried the SOLDIERs parts from the robot graveyard, but his core doesn't have as much energy needed. 

47 times. SOLDIERs prototypes are reported missing in the base, but the system couldn't record any of the incidents. Meanwhile, a maintenance robot is behaving oddly; somehow he had changed his own design despite that the standard part of his AI shouldn't allow it.

Sephiroth has been suspected Cloud’s... exterior as something off, but he hasn't shown any signs of hostility, and he was doing a perfect job in Sephiroth's maintenance, and Cloud was extremely attentive and nice (was he supposed to feel niceness?). The only thing that bothers him (besides Cloud's exterior) is that Cloud would always ask about how Sephiroth thinks of his recent upgrade with all the tools (and weaponry, should a maintenance robot even have that?).

Sephiroth gradually senses a slight distortion in Cloud's sound whenever he raises the question. (It's like, he’s crying. It's like he's in pain. But robots cannot feel pain.) He senses that Cloud's sound is less... filled with excitement. His sound used to fill with excitement, about the world, humanity, robots, about Sephiroth himself. He starts to... miss the old, small, lively maintenance robot. The robot hadn't asked him anything about the world; about his missions in ages.

Sephiroth realizes the purpose to Cloud's desperate attempts. 

During his monthly check up, Sephiroth enquires Cloud to accompany him on his next mission. 

Cloud perks up at that. His lights start to blink. He makes sounds that almost sound like giggles. 

Sephiroth realizes that Cloud hasn't been so lively for ages. 

That night, a SOLDIER robot that was discarded not to long ago in the graveyard just rebooted, uploaded his memory to the system, and then dies for good.

Sephiroth receives a command that he must eliminate a threat that has been lurking within the SOLDIER base. The target is... 

For the first time since his creation, Sephiroth has never felt so conflicted with a command. He has never even questioned a command. Sephiroth tries to abort it, saying to the Commander that the threat is under control, and the target can be neutralized. But his abortion request is rejected. Sephiroth is sent reports of many missing SOLDIER prototypes, and he is forced to execute the target. 

For the first time since his creation, Cloud has never had an up-close look at Gaia. Standing from the helicopter looking out to the plain fields, he is now, looking at the world of Gaia, humanity's old home. All of the robots are fighting to claim this place back.

During their mission, Sephiroth looks through his laser eyes, Cloud's frame bolded red defining the “target". He realizes how oddly Cloud walks around (and how often he has to stop to repair himself).

Cloud finds himself with even more questions with every scenery they cross. He wants to ask to go on another mission with Sephiroth-

A blade goes through his chest plate. An arm hold him steady from behind.

Being able to read Cloud's heavily damaged system, Sephiroth asks him why must he goes through so much to the point that he's killing many others and losing himself. 

After overcoming his initial shockwave as his AI is buzzing, Cloud says that so that he can know, of the world, his purpose, their purposes. And maybe, so that he can be “seen" to a certain robot.

Sephiroth apologizes.

Cloud's distorted voice saying that he’s glad that he can finally see the world, he's glad that he is finally “seen", and accepts his end. The light in his eyes fades. 

Many years later, a corpse of a bizarrely modified robot then be seen laid on a plain flower field of Gaia.