on-the-spot short stories.

ai/morals

"seriously? i mean, seriously?"

riya was exasperated, but i wasn't being unreasonable. it was my choice to make, and she should have known it would have happened sooner or later with the direction they had chosen for themselves. was i forcing them? to change their views, their path, themselves? i had accepted, albeit begrudgingly, but i had. i really had. yes, maybe not from my entire heart, but i had. hadn't stopped them– tried to, but hadn't.

"i'm sorry," was all i could say. i hadn't meant to say that either, but if it makes her any calmer than this: i wouldn't mind saying it a thousand times over. a million more times i could offer my apologies, as long as they can forego the thought of me changing my mind. i accepted them, they have to accept me. my policies, my morals. the boundary i draw: even if they think that i draw it too soon. or that my own boundaries trap me.

i would happily be caged than be out in a free world with blurred lines. could nobody see the vision which i did? they inch one step forward– one. just one. they try, the push. they go ahead, and they celebrate. then? then they dare to take another step. they try to push, once again. and when you wouldn't be looking for a moment, they would have inched so much closer to you and in your personal space that their speed, their direction, would be impossible to ignore. now, that would be a real trap for me. let me tell you what i have on my mind. "the amount of jobs, riya," i sighed. "i– i can't." i rubbed my temple.

"people have been losing jobs since forever," she accentuated each word. i failed to understand why she was so upset. i was very careful to not jeopardize her career. or anybody else's, for that matter. my vision was something only i could fathom, and i made sure to not punish anybody else's for my own pessimism.

"i agree. and there have been people who have been against that, too. they have been against modernization, and i completely understand. they don't want that a job of screwing the caps on the bottles which pays them minimum wage an hour but keeps them afloat is taken away from them. that is where they draw the line. i didn't: i did think it is better that meagre works, such as those, are done by a machine. so here i'm. but now it's time for me to draw the line, as well. it's simple to me," i shrugged, to seem casual about it.

she wasn't so. "screw your bottle caps and screw you, ravi," she got up, the screech of the chair echoing across the now empty room. was she really that upset? she banged the door as she left, and i thought, she is really that upset. i wish i could change something about this situation. anything. should i have delivered the news some other way? would it have mattered? would it be different? i wish i knew. ultimately, she would have known, one way or another, i was quitting the company, and i was leaving america.

let me tell you about 'satilo'– a company which.. which is about phones and pcs and laptops, and their parts, basically. i have a habit of over-explaining, so with this big change in my life of leaving such a huge organisation, my second home: i would like to cut out on this bad habit as well. or annoying, at least. a bad habit is probably smoking, which i don't consider an issue as of yet. quitting cigarettes is not a problem, i have done it hundreds of times.

let me tell you why quitting my 'boring rants to obviously disinterested people who are only listening because they're on gunpoint (exaggeration)' is such a surprise. that is what got me into santilo! don't ask me what it means. i didn't even know it was 'santi-lo' and not 'santi-go'– in my mind the latter made more sense, now they both seem illogical. "...trust santigo, to broaden my horizons, and give me opportunities–" they had interrupted, apologised for interrupting, and corrected me. i didn't even have it in me to be embarrassed. i nodded, and continued my passionate speech. people around me know better than to interrupt me, because i'll complete what i have started, uncaring of the situation or people.

my family, my friends, and then later my colleagues knew that. riya especially, took notice fairly early. she used to tease me by interrupting me intentionally, and laugh how i frustratedly struggled to complete my word over her antics. i think this was why i got the job. i remember the panel of recruiters looking at each other amusedly at how easily i skimmed over my mistake, very much uncaring that i got the name of the company wrong in my very first interview.

so, no going into details. it's just something about engineering, okay? come on, let's stop pretending that we know what engineers do. hell, even i don't know what i do. i definitely do something, sometimes even notable work: because two years ago i finally made, and completed the company's first ai: artificial intelligence.

okay, it was not as notable as i made it sound. but it did get me a lot of praise, a raise, and a promotion. it would appear as a small icon in the form of an animated lady, joining her hands in 'namaste' dressed in a red saree. she looked awfully lot like riya to me, and i told her that frequently. she joked how it's probably her destiny to deal with complaints even when her burden was reduced. yes, she was in the 'help/grievance' department of the company, but to deduce her as a call centre employee would be a shame. please don't do that. she was one of the most qualified engineers, who helped deal with bigger problems than a random rahul's laptop which he never got serviced.

i requested the ai to be named riya. riya even appeared on our app. she could talk, and she even had voice messaging– something the other companies didn't as of then. riya had coyly asked me, if i had named it on her. no, i said, and she slapped my arm. we laughed, as i  held her wrists to prevent the rain of slaps and hits. i had met riya on a smoke break, and we had quickly gotten closer over our love for tea, and a particular brand of the slow poison: malboro.

and now, she was upset with me. she had left me, alone in the lounge room, slamming the door shut behind her. i wish i had offered her a last smoke. most of our recent chai sessions went arguing and debating. on? on a development on riya– the ai. a development i didn't approve of. they were adding a new tab on the app, and soon on the site, for creating images and drawings with the help of riya. powerpoint presentations, essays, assignments. when they had called me in the group meeting, when they had informed me of the decision– i had shot up so quickly that i got dizzy. 'no,' i had said, firmly. the panel had looked at me frowning, as if they had not expected the outburst. how? i felt awkward, and i had looked at riya for support, and she was confused too.

i won't tell you what reasons i gave them. what reasons they gave me. why? because you probably had the exact debate earlier. you probably agree with both sides of the arguments, but feel inclined towards one. because they would go through with the project despite my protests. and because i want to cut down on the habit of over-explaining. i just don't understand why would our customers need that tab? 'for fun, ravi! for fun. come on. they would be intrigued while looking at our services. we are a company of development. towards innovation.'

i wish i could find the fun in the blatant plagiarism. in the heavy loss of jobs that was about to follow after the development. riya didn't think they were too many reasons, or strong enough, at least. they were for me, i didn't need to think of more of them. i think my colleagues are viewing them as justifications, which they are not. they're my reasons. they were strong enough to convince me, they were enough for me to quit the company and leave for india.

why i chose to go back to india, actually had nothing to do with me quitting my job. i was yet to watch 'swades,' i had left against my mom's will all those years ago. i also wanted to avoid arranged marriage, and hoped to introduce riya someday. a few days before my interview my mom had also slapped in the middle of the street as i stepped on the burning, offending object. i talked to her less after that. i used to believe it was nothing to create a fuss over– in a crowded street, no less. but she had established her boundaries that way, and i had went against them regardless. today i understood her feelings more than anybody else.

wasn't ai already doing all of those– image generation, voice generation? i asked myself as i closed my eyes to sleep through the flight. was i being unreasonable? i wasn't a fighter, i wasn't standing up against ai. it wasn't a movement. i received a call, and the hostess called out to me. i nodded, and switched the phone to airplane mode. it was riya.

two days into realising my mother's paranthe are probably a better addiction than nicotine, i received a call from rajal. my boss. for fun, he had said. towards innovation. "what?" if he was to talk about the notice period, i would hang up immediately. he was a friend, but our relationship had strained– and i was in no hurry to fix it just yet.

"you didn't see the pictures?" behind him i heard a choked sob which was undeniably riya.

"what pictures?"