Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 21

There are people in this world who'll do anything for a quick buck, who follow an ethics system based on the ends justifying the means, whose desire for money ventures far beyond the benefit of accumulating it, and who never care about advancing civilisation or improving our knowledge of the universe unless it can assist in the growth of their wealth. Mathison was not these people.

"Strategy," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "How about nineteen percent?"

The person he was speaking to didn't respond. Probably because it wasn't a person at all, but a screen. And he wasn't even speaking to it. That whole paragraph wasn't a lie, I was simply misleading you for comic effect. Hahaha, etc.

Mathison's lanky body bent over the terminal, a single daffodil poking out his breast pocket.

"Communication...ten percent?"

He screwed up his face, which managed to loosen his glasses free once more. He pushed them up.

This step in the process involved domain knowledge, none of which he'd learned in the basement of AutomatIO. In a sense that was his own fault. Any time business matters came up, his eyes would glaze over and his mind would return to the latest technical problem he was struggling to solve. Business meant people, and people just weren't predictable enough to interact with.

"Cooperation...?"

The door flung open. Mathison's glasses dropped a third time.

Josef marched in. "How was it?" he said.

It's fair to say Mathison was as confused as you right now.

"My appearance," explained Josef, leaning in.

"Err," said Mathison.

"Debate fright, whatever it is," said Josef, now in a huff. "I told you I'd be on."

He hadn't. Mathison knew he hadn't, but he wasn't socially intelligent enough to tip toe around that fact. "I'm almost certain you never referred to an appear--"

This time it didn't take social intelligence, or even the ability to extrapolate emotional states from facial expressions, to know he should stop.

"When will it be done?" said Josef.

It took Mathison a moment to realise the topic had changed. "I'm glad you're here," he said, turning to his screen. "Perhaps you could help in assigning weights to the various attribu--"

"What?" said Josef. "That's your job. We had a deal, remember? I lead the company, using my business acumen, while you develop the technology. You're not trying to change the deal, are you?"

This is where Paige would quote something about altering the deal and praying she wasn't going to alter it further. But this wasn't Paige, it was Mathison, and his mind was filled with exactly zero quotes from well-known movie franchises. Actually, it was filled with exactly zero thoughts. Fear can do that to a person.

He shook his head.

"I don't need to know the details," said Josef, "just the time frame."

"There are many variables which need to be--"

"I need a date," said Josef. Not angry, but forceful, in control.

"Err...six months?" said Mathison.

"Not good enough," said Josef. He was standing close. Too close. "What if I get you help? More engineers. Ten times the people means it'll be done ten times faster."

"That's not exactly--"

"I'll get you that assistant you wanted."

"I wouldn't call them an assistant, more a junior position to help free me up to--"

"Yes, yes," said Josef, waving the bespectacled man's words into the air. "But you need to sign this."

He proffered a thick tome, filled with legalese.

Mathison picked out a few percentages from the ocean, but the words weren't interesting enough to wade into.

"A contract for the investment," said Josef. "So you get what you need."

Mathison signed it. It was a business thing, and that was Josef's role, not his.

"Oh, and I'll need a working demo in a month," said Josef.

Mathison lowered his head and nodded. What else could he do? By the time he looked up at Josef there was no Josef to look at, with a closing door the only remnant of the man's presence.

He sighed.

"Cooperation," he said, again reading the display.

The ability to work with others was clearly crucial. He wouldn't even have this opportunity to further develop his technology if he'd remained a lone wolf.

While he wasn't too concerned with automating away executive positions, once this stage was over he could refine the technology in the way it was originally envisaged, and share that with the world.