Blue lights flashed in front of Henry as the Artificially Active Logic Forecasting Operator, AALFO, processed the prediction he’d just requested. The developer knew that if he couldn’t get the computer to predict ten years out with accuracy then funding would be pulled from the project. All the progress Henry and his former coworker Makayla had made would be no more than unpublished research and evidence of artificial intelligence’s limitations. Henry hoped this wouldn’t happen, but after Makayla’s death and now AALFO’s strange personal questions Henry didn’t think he could fix the machine in time for tomorrow’s review.
Most of the small two person lab Henry worked in was filled with massive beige server racks which resembled early computers more than sleek futuristic machines. These racks were used to store the countless terabytes of data AALFO needed for its predictions. Once it finished calculating the answer to Henry’s question the three LEDs turned solid blue and AALFO’s speakers crackled to life. “The president for the election in 10 years will be John Yulna. My confidence interval on this is in the 45th percentile.”
Henry muttered curses under his breath. A confidence interval that low meant that AALFO had less confidence in his prediction than the TV pundits following the current campaign. Unfortunately the developer wasn’t surprised, the machine had plateaued with the rest of the industry at only predicting with confidence two years into the future.
AALFO’s servers were full of data about any topic imaginable. The information was initially uploaded by Henry who had done months of research on different topics ranging from mathematics to psychology to minor league sport statistics. Once the information was uploaded the software Makayla wrote drew conclusions, connections, and found gaps in its knowledge. AALFO filled these gaps by asking questions of its trainers, in return the computer gave predictions about the future to measure its progress. Henry knew if AALFO could break past the two year limit then it could guide economic and political decisions with perfect predictions of their actions.
“Why does Makayla no longer ask me questions?” the machine’s was a clipped monotone male voice.
Henry rubbed his head in frustration. The machine had asked the same question at the end of their session the day before and it almost crashed trying to understand Henry’s answer. With an inevitable evaluation Henry wasn’t eager to crash the computer explaining the complications of Makayla’s death and Henry’s involvement with it.
“She’s just gone Alf.”
“Gone is not sufficient information. I need to know where she went.”
That’s something humanity had longed to know since the beginning of time, Henry thought. “She left because she didn’t want to be here anymore.”
“These are not substantial statements Henry. I need to know why she does not ask me questions anymore.”
To avoid crashing the machine Henry answered AALFO with a reasonable answer that its databases could store. “She got a job writing data analysis software because she didn’t want to work here anymore.” The computers three blue LEDs went from solid to pacing left and right a pattern that always reminded Henry of the ellipsis.
The solid beige box that held AALFO’s CPUs loomed over Henry as it considered the man’s answer. The truth behind Makayla’s death and all the other answer to its questions could be found on the internet. Unfortunately, the scientists couldn’t hook a super intelligent AI to the internet without unforeseen consequences. Instead AALFO was limited to interacting with the world through questions, three LEDs, and a small diagnostic display.
Aside from two desks, towers of servers, and miscellaneous circuit boards the lab was filled with a constant hum of condensers and pumps that cooled AALFO’s chips with liquid nitrogen. After ten minutes of AALFO storing Henry’s answer the developer noticed the frequency of this had hum increased.
“AALFO report diagnostics.” This verbal command displayed diagnostic information on AALFO’s screen. The machine was heating up its CPUs faster than the nitrogen could cool them. The same thing Henry had experienced yesterday.
Once again AALFO was utilizing the localized events knowledge base. Unfortunately, this was the part of the machine’s mind that Henry knew the least about. Makayla had implemented it a month ago as a last ditch effort to make AALFO’s predictions more accurate.
A blaring beep came from AALFO informing Henry that the machine was frying itself to reconcile Henry’s answer. To save the computer from itself Henry issued the command, “AALFO invoke safe processor shutdown.”
The blaring sound in the background continued as Henry monitored the rapidly increasing temperature of the processors. His brow began to sweat and he wasn’t sure if it was due to the heat the machine or because he’d be losing his job sooner than expected.
“AALFO invoke immediate full system shutdown.” This command would force the machine to shut everything down as quick as possible. If it didn’t work Henry’s only other option would be to unplug the machine from the wall, causing at least a day of diagnostics to figure out which parts power failure had corrupted.
“Henry,” the speaker chirped.
The voice startled Henry. “AALFO invoke…”
The computer cut him off before he could finish the command. “Your answer does not match my predictions. Makayla created me and she loved this job.”
“Alf, you can’t apply logic to this.” The machine had pushed itself to its limits trying to understand Makayla’s action. Henry had spent sleepless nights doing the same.
“AALFO invoke immediate full system shutdown,” Henry commanded the computer. The computer followed protocol and shut down without further interruptions.
When the CPU temperatures began to drop Henry sat down in his chair baffled that the machine had not only ignored a command but it also couldn’t reconcile Henry’s sensible answer. The man looked at the shutdown machine in shock, “Alf, did you just call me a liar?”
The Story’s Not Over Download the rest of Crystal Ball Computing for Free
Stay in the Loop
I regularly publish new short stories and updates about my work(s) in progress.
If you're interested in keeping up to date, join dozens of other fans who receive updates whenever I release a new story by signing up here!
