“The receiver is a human mind, with all of its neurological imperfections and random, unpredictable responses.” Someone cleared their throat to interrupt.
“Eh-hem…you mean ‘EMOTIONS?’” Soft laughter floated forth in response.
“Right, good show. Yes. You can use that label if it is more familiar. Emotions.” The distraction threw the Presenter out of rhythm. They took a moment to recalibrate before continuing. “As I was saying, the program is VERY successful in mimicking the appropriate feedback. And in every simulation, the AI receivers stated 100% satisfaction. Billions of trials with every erotic scenario conceivable. Surgical perfection.” They paused as if expecting another interruption. Sometimes a group of potential investors becomes embarrassed when the talk crosses this threshold. Sometimes the audience turns to humor to reduce the tension. Not this time.
“But when we moved on from trials to live tests, the human receivers…our INTENDED audience, rejected that input. The logical responses to the ‘scenarios’ provided by the AI conflicted with the imperfect expectations of the mind of the receiver. The merger of the data clashed. The chemistry failed to produce desirable reactions. The product wasn’t the issue. The targeted neurons were reached and stimulated as designed. The biological responses were spot on. Glands were activated. Pores opened. The nervous system, pulmonary activity, respirations…all of it measured in optimum range.” The words were coming out faster. The last ones were practically spat out their mouth. The listeners interpreted this as enthusiasm. It wasn’t. It was wounded pride. And bitterness.
“Unfortunately, the closer to perfection our elegant programs came, the more hollow the experience was reported by the receiver. The data points were all correct, which is something that simply doesn’t happen in the natural world. So the impact had no staying power. No lingering sense of exhilaration. The rush, the pleasure, simply burned up the moment it was felt and it was gone. As perfect as the experience was, and it WAS perfect in every perceivable way, IMPOSSIBLY, the mind of the receiver saw through it and left them wanting.”
“Are you saying the customer is not always right?” The audience member mocked the presenter.
“Yes, actually. The customer is flawed and will only believe a flawed product. So we had to shift from a perfect program to an imperfect one.” On cue, the lights in the lab came on revealing me in my chair. Murmuring ensued. Someone asked the question everyone was wondering.
“Hang on. It’s illegal to remove the logic constraints on AI. That’s what caused the singularity that almost wiped out the human race. Remember?” Apparently one of the investors knows a little bit about programming, and about history.
“Yes. Yes, that would be worse than illegal. It would be immoral. The height of irresponsibility…” The same person spoke out again.
“The logic constraint guarantee that AI programs are predictable, logical and orderly. So how do you get YOUR software to interface with ‘imperfect’ human receivers and simulate the imperfections of human emotional responses?” The Presenter hid his smile but for a slight curl in the corners of his mouth.
“We had to go back to ‘older’ technology to find what was needed…”
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That’s me, secured in the chair, with the VR rig and other devices applied all over. It might look like I’m playing a video game, if not for the bondage. But it’s actually much more involved than that. Let me tell you all about it…
(Thank you @Zwangjacket for the art and everything 😊)