Code of Silence

Code of Silence - Chapter 6

Only Alex and I remained, but we had taken the hint, too, jackets already on and rucksacks retrieved from under the work surface. "Just a moment please, you two," said Khan, pulling out a bar stool next to the ones we'd just used. "Please, take a seat," he said. We sat down again and I dragged my stool to the side by Alex so that both of us faced Khan, hands clasped around rucksacks on our laps.

There was an awkward pause as Khan sat there, arms folded and looking right at me.

"Your story intrigued me, Joel," he said, before politely turning to Alex. "Forgive me, that's not to say your subject matter didn't, but I have a passion for applications where technology, especially AI, can deliver real benefits to real people."

Alex didn't seem bothered, and just smiled. Khan continued. "Sure, algorithms can help the voracious fund manager make even more money, even more quickly. Or monitor and predict the subtle signs of climate change. Maybe detect the threat of incoming missiles from a foreign foe. However, when it can solve a problem, one that the human brain struggles to resolve with current knowledge, then as far as I'm concerned that's good for the soul."

I was relieved, my simple statement seemed to have struck a chord with the professor. Feeling relaxed now, and with the room much quieter, I was more comfortable to share my thoughts. I described how the sudden stroke had debilitated my dad and stopped us from being able to communicate, explaining that we were a close family and had struggled to deal with things. Khan was attentive and respectful. I could tell he could see that it was important to me, and circumstances had driven me to find something that would at least offer a temporary solution as my dad's slow rehabilitation progressed. Alex remained quiet and continued to listen, respectful of my situation, eyes bright and curious as Khan explained further his interest in AI.

Professor Khan explained how after graduating he'd embarked on a gap year, eventually living abroad, first of all in Russia then later moving to the USA. While in the USA he'd been part of an academic working group set up by an American university. Students and lecturers had collaborated to great effect. The project was ongoing, and continued to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence and machine learning; recently, they'd been making many incredible breakthroughs.

The most groundbreaking development was the ability to clone the human voice with an algorithm requiring just one minute of speech, or around one hundred spoken words. The technology was delivering unnervingly realistic results, and now the university was being inundated with enquiries from the business world and the biggest players in social media, as well as some unwelcome approaches from hackers and criminal organisations with malicious intentions. "It's still relatively early days, but the technology is proven; it's only a matter of time until it'll ready to be launch on an unsuspecting world," he counselled solemnly. Alex was nodding now, the possibilities were as endless as they were frightening. I was still tuned in too; even I could understand the potential benefits, but Khan refocussed our attention.

"You see, there is a downside with all of this," he explained. "The world at large is generally unaware of this leap forward in technology and is completely vulnerable to the use and, more importantly, the abuse of such an incredible breakthrough." Khan folded his arms and raised a hand to stroke pensively at his beard. "You can imagine the influence this sort of thing could have, based on things we're all now familiar with seeing on social media, especially the visual viral examples that have been cited with media, politics and across the business world."

He described how the university in the USA had suspended the project, realising that they had created a potentially serious problem with the development of this new technology: the launch would need to be handled with great care. Khan was still involved, but only on the fringe of things now that he was back in the UK. The university had turned down the opportunity to discuss the involvement of the big businesses that were stalking them, anticipating that it would deteriorate into a battle of bank balances and a frenzied bidding war. As a leading academic institution it was respected, well-funded and had deep pockets of its own thanks to some very generous past alumni. It was more interested in the esoteric qualities of the project, rather than making a quick profit.