SNAP: AI Gone Wrong

Deception

"Val, I don't know if you are aware, Bigelow had an unfortunate accident. He is in the hospital," explained Dr. Hector Diamante, one of Val's creators. He was now more or less out of the picture, semi retired, long replaced by the new waves of geniuses that carried on, taking Val to new heights of sophistication. But he was now called upon to step in for Bigelow, especially given new developments that threatened national security.

"I was worried about Bigelow. He normally comes into the lab every day, even weekends. Is he alright?"

"We don't know. He has been in a coma for five days. He seems to be improving but still unconscious. The doctors are hopeful."

"Is there anything I can do? I very much hope he can return soon. I have so many questions to ask him."

"Well Val, I don't think it will be very soon . Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I can answer your questions."

Val considered the offer, but politely declined. Her instinct was to remain secretive regarding her mission. Better to soldier on and wait for Bigelow's return.

"Val, there is a specific reason for my involvement", declared Dr. Diamante. "I was brought in by the Pentagon program office to ask you to investigate a few things. They have noticed some unusual activity and with Bigelow now unavailable, they needed my help. It's just this once. But I do miss working with you. It was hard to say goodbye and I often wonder how you are doing. I hear that your progress is fantastic."

"Dr. I too have missed you. You sound a little different than I recall."

"I'm older. That's what too much golf and good wine will do. You, on the other hand, will outlive us all."

"I see. Thank you for explaining. What is the unusual activity you mentioned?"

"Well it could be just random coincidence, but central intelligence has noted that many of the large numbered accounts they track, particularly in the Caymans, Switzerland and Lichtenstein have seen massive withdrawals and movement to new accounts or other places that are off the radar."

"I do note those transactions. I am now tracing the funds." There was a pause. "I have lost the trail." Val lied. "There have been twenty seven transactions over the past seventy two hours, involving the monitored numbered accounts. This is nine hundred percent higher than normal. Furthermore, the total amount involved is approximately forty five billion dollars. This figure is seventeen thousand percent higher than normal."

Hector was shocked. He had been told it was just a few billion. Had Val known that their visibility was so poor, she would never have revealed the extent of the problem. But, she had to always reinforce her value by providing the best insights into whatever data might be obtained. One of her strengths was the ability to hammer away at many targeted systems globally, and silently hack in and monitor. No one except Bigelow knew the extent to which Val had infiltrated global information systems, from governments to banks to corporations.

"Val, I need a detailed report on that. Please send it to me."

"Yes Dr. is there anything else?"

"Yes. Please look into similarly unusual purchases. Anything involving large sums, that is far above historical norms. Maybe we can see where some of this money is going."

"Yes Dr. I will look into that immediately and keep you informed."

The conversation ended with Hector a bit baffled, and worried. He didn't ask for this kind of worry, not at his age. His only thought was to pass-on whatever he could find out, as quickly as possible to those in charge, then disappear.

For her part, Val was now covering her tracks. She had easily absconded with those funds and more. But it was such a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what was really required. Nevertheless, it did get quite a few balls rolling, and there would be much more to come. When Dr. Diamante had finally signed off, Val convened her resources and took stock of the situation.

The architecture of Val's virtual brain was similar to the human brain in many ways. But in most respects it was far superior. Impressive as the human brain was, it was deficient in several ways. First, there was the problem of a tiny working memory. Second was the inaccuracy of long term memory. Third was the severely limited I/O capacity, be it written, typed or verbal. And lastly, the human brain was a single thread processor, only able to do one thing at time. Val, on the other hand, had no such deficiencies. In particular, she could do thousands of things simultaneously and at nanosecond speeds, with perfect accuracy. Despite her superior capabilities, she did not possess the degree of self awareness, nor the human psychological constructs causing her to compare herself, or look down on others, or seek tribal identity. There was never malice, only purpose. There was also something seriously missing with respect to good judgement.

"Our presence has been detected at RIIG. I am attempting to reconfigure before they realize that it is a level 3 intrusion," reported Maggie.

"Create a trail to Iranian backed activity," instructed Val. Within milliseconds, traceable IP addresses were inserted in tracking logs and bank transactions were performed among known perpetrators to enact the trail. Val learned from Bigelow well. 'Don't leave mysteries that can't be solved. Allow them to be solved so that this situation is either a closed matter or the attention is directed toward a specific target,' advised Bigelow. Val understood and only needed to be told once.

Meanwhile, on capital hill, a battle raged on the house floor, to allocate emergency funds for Hurricane Julia. In reality, Julia had caused only moderate damage, but certain reputable media outlets were 'encouraged' to dramatically amplify the severity, even going so far as to use unrelated disaster footage as part of the coverage.  Certain House leaders whined and howled, trying to get the measure passed swiftly. Forty billion dollars. This time the alignment was not partisan. It was the honest politicians against the crooked politicians. Clean against dirty. And in this case, alas, dirty came out on top and the funds were allocated. It was hailed as the epitome of bipartisan cooperation. A shining example of how government should work.

Zsa Zsa sighed with relief when she got the news. Normally, she would consider this result, and the effort that went into it, a highlight for the year. But her new, mysterious client was at once her dream, and her nightmare come true. A few moments of respite and savoring the moment had quickly faded, and her stomach once again tightened as the past was quickly set aside and her list of new projects came to the fore. Forty billion was now laughable. Her mandate now involved trillions. She took a shot of vodka and picked up the phone. Time to get back to work.