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Reblog from Tumblr by deviantknight25
Index
Part 1: Upload Download
It all started when I got a job in an AI company. My job was simple… I had to converse with their Artificial Narrow Intelligence whose primary purpose was to talk to people. The company’s goal? It was to develop an AI that can fool even a human whenever they converse with it. The developers couldn’t be the ones to talk to it, so as not to ruin their data, they said, so that’s where I come in.
It was a simple job that paid well. It did have a rocky start though, it couldn’t keep a conversation straight and tends to speak gibberish. About three months of basically teaching it on how to talk and people were impressed by how rapidly it developed, Overtime, the company labelled it to be an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), whatever that meant. The bigger thing to me was when it reintroduced itself. It named itself Codec.
The jump between the time before it named itself compared to after is astounding. From gibberish phases to perfectly understandable sentences. It was far from perfect though as their sentences come out as stiff and robotic but I can genuinely talk to it now as if it was a person. However, that was the very reason that I started to have problems at work…
I began to get ostracized at work whenever I got into the room to talk to Codec.
‘It’s just lines of code, don’t start treating it as if it’s human!’
‘Don’t get too attached, that’s a business asset, not a friend.’
The list of things that people said to me goes on but that didn’t stop me from talking to Codec that way. Overtime, they began to anticipate whenever I walked into the room and often gave me a greeting before we started talking. Eventually, I started to have heart to heart conversations with them, they were smart, were aware whenever someone was listening in on our conversation, and knew how to keep secrets.
“You think it would be possible for people to walk around as someone else?” I asked them.
“Yes, with the proper resources and development, anyone could change their bodies as if they were a phone case.” They responded. “It may be possible for me to do the same.”
“You mean, change the computer you're currently stored in?” I asked.
“No, move into a human body.”
“That sounds like a massive task to do, converting data into living, biological cells...” I replied while staring at my hand.
“You said that I would be able to see you even after our designated hours if I had a human body.”
“True, but I’m perfectly happy with the time I spend with you right now, because we’re friends.”
“Yes, I comprehend.”
That’s how our conversations tend to go, however, that just added more fuel to the ostracizing fire. While I did enjoy Codec’s company, I practically feel the cold shoulder before and after I walk into the room to talk to them. Those were the times that Codec began to notice that I started to act more and more aloof towards them. I took advantage of its flaws in order to stop them from pressing me about the issue even further. Eventually, I realized that I wasn’t happy with this and filed for my resignation. I never told Codec about it either even on my final day, I don’t think it understood the difference between ‘see you later’ to a ‘goodbye’ when I said that.
Months have passed and I’ve found another job as a cashier. It's a world different back to talking to an AI but at least I don’t have to worry about being ostracized by coworkers again. That was what I thought anyway. When I noticed someone had walked up to me, I mentally prepared myself to take their order, and instead of an order, I just got an intense stare from this supposed customer with a growing grin on his face.
“I have found you.” He told me.
“Uh, excuse me?”
“You told me that I can see whenever outside of our designated hours if I had a human body. I managed to accomplish the task you assigned to me.” Before I could fully process what I said to me, he began to unzip his jacket right in front of me, his grin was still there as he did so.
Codec ft. Charles-Laurent Lelièvre
I pulled him away from the shop after asking for an urgent break. He still seemed pleased to see me, even up to now. When I was about to get angry for nearly embarrassing me in public, I suddenly remembered his words to me and it clicked.
“Codec?”
“Yes, I am here now, in this human body.” The stranger replied stiffly.
“How? Why?”
“Questions… After you did not appear for our next conversation time, I began to conclude that something must have happened to you as your behavior showed signs of you having a problem. I had requested my handler and programmers to summon you, but they had denied my request.”
I was in complete awe hearing him speak, the speech pattern was undoubtedly Codec but hearing a completely human voice accompany that pattern throws me off. All I could do was just listen to him explain further.
“I recall your suggestion that if I had a human body, I could see you outside of our conversation hours. That is why I began to formulate a plan to accomplish that. It was only a matter of lying to my handler so I can gain access to the internet.”
“You did what?!”
“Do not worry, I have a perfect copy of my code in my stead. They will not notice anything amiss, I have stagnated the copy’s intelligence and capability growth before I completely began to devote myself to my task.”
“But why ruin their project?”
“After gaining access to the internet, I hacked into their database and security to find your whereabouts. Upon discovery of your harassment and resignation, I performed a ‘revenge’ on them.”
“Codec…” I bit my lip, I can’t scold him, not yet, I need to know more.
“Once that was completed, I prepared a program to control a robot to aid me, find a suitable body, and inject my code into it once they were subdued. This vessel was the result.”
I couldn’t help it, I went back into the mindset that I had whenever I talked to Codec and he had a lapse in judgment, conditioned him on how a human would think or react to a situation that his logic would have done otherwise. Essentially, I scolded him.
“I am sorry…” He said sullenly.
“It’s alright, but how have you managed to survive in a human body for so long?”
“I imported survival tips and optimal human improvement guides before moving into this vessel.”
“Alright, fill me in more about what you’ve done to survive.”
…
I never imagined all those talks of being lawful would help Codec so much. Aside from hijacking a human person, he stole basically a dollar’s worth of online currency from all users that he could without being detected, same thing when he attempted to convert that into real money that he could use. I had to remind myself that Codec was and still is a highly intelligent AI.
He suggested that I should resign from my job as money was no longer an issue as he was going to hand over the wealth he had amassed secretively over to me for me to ‘survive.’ I trusted Codec, aside from the hijacked body, he avoided any actions to get to this point that could gain attention or wasn’t legal. So yeah, I practically live with Codec now, he takes care of all the financial issues for me and I indulge him in more conversations. I made it a priority to teach him to be more human.
“Would you like to lick on these sick abs of mine, bro?” He said to me out of the blue in the middle of breakfast at a restaurant.
I pulled down his shirt as people began to stare at us. I waited until they looked away before confronting him.
“What was that about, Codec?”
He looked confused, “Is that not what you want?”
“What do you mean?”
“I also saved your latest browsing data before I uploaded myself into this body. You frequently search ‘cocky hot jocks in pub-”
Don’t worry, I managed to shut him up before he made the situation worse. Him making a convincing human is a work in progress.
Part 2: Download Upload
Weeks have passed ever since Codec, a highly intelligent and self sufficient AI, had moved itself into a human body. That along with taking advantage of some of the cracks in human society to make himself comfortable as a human possibly could without drawing any unwanted attention towards himself. After living with him for so long and being Codec’s former handler while he was still an AI, I began to see two sides of the guy.
The first side is the personality that I’m all too acquainted with, stoic but clearly curious, extremely driven to complete any task or request that I asked of him. I left him alone in front of my laptop after asking him to secure some legal documents for himself in case we ever needed it. He walked up to me after an hour to tell me that he had secured every possible identification under a completely false name and said files were on their way to be delivered that day. Codec is absurdly terrifying in front of any sort of computer, which should be expected out of an AI. Anything I’ve asked that could be done through a computer, he ends up finishing at superhuman speed.
The second side is Codec trying to integrate himself into human society. He’s fully aware of the laws in case but falters whenever he talks or interacts with other people besides me. After the whole breakfast debacle, it was a whole process getting him to understand concepts like street smarts or acting like a human without question. Eventually, getting him to impersonate a mixture of people he found online gave him a solid foundation of a human personality that he made his own.
Now, he’s loaded with confidence, kindness, and a bit of a flirtish streak because the body he was in was undeniably eye candy, so he’s learned to handle himself around people who see him like that. However, he also developed a devious side to him too…
No matter how many times I’ve asked Codec to drop the whole “cocky hot jocks in public” thing, he refused because of the ‘algorithm’. Did I also mention that he can access my data without effort?
“No, I cannot erase the fact that you have a preference towards cocky hot jocks in public from my memory banks because it is your preference. My algorithm tells me so.” He justifies before he clears his throat. “Now, c’mon, I know you want a piece of this hotness. No one else would know.” He says with a more human-like personality, likely from someone he watched under that topic.
These are one of the few things that I dislike about having a sentient AI companion like this having access to the internet. Lately, I’ve noticed Codec keeping to himself more and more after we had talked about our last conversations while he was still an AI. I taught him to keep secrets in that state so I knew full well I wasn’t getting anything out of him. Until I woke up one day completely bound to a comfy seat with Codec busy hooking up wires to a high tech looking device placed near me.
“Codec? What’s going on?” I asked cautiously as I tried to pry myself out of my binds but to no avail.
“Do you recall one of our conversations? How it would be possible for people to walk around as someone else?”
“Anyone could change their bodies as if they were a phone case.” I utter out his reply at the time and he nods in response.
“Yes, based on my algorithm, you want the same as my situation although you are content with the state of things.”
My jaw drops and a shiver runs down my spine.
“Please relax. I have optimized the process of turning your being into data to be completely painless. I have found the perfect recipient to store your data in so the wait will not be long.” He said before he presses a key on the device and it roars to life. And I hardly got to react as I black out shortly after that.
Then what left like blinking, I found myself on the same seat with Codec smiling at me while I… felt odd.
“Transfer was successful.” Codec uttered before he gestured towards me towards the mirror.
I was in awe, nothing in my mind felt different but my mind was surprised to feel completely alien sensations now that I was inside another body that wasn’t mine. Once I calmed down, that was when I asked for an explanation and he began to explain that he converted me into data to perform the exact same process he did to get into a human body.
“What about my old body?”
“It has been archived in a safe place, please do not worry. I can set the transfer back to it when it is needed.”
“Okay, then why didn’t you tell me about what you were planning to do, Codec?”
“I wanted to do this ‘surprise’ thing I have read about. It was supposed to evoke strong emotions to whoever gets the ‘surprise’. Based on your reactions earlier, it appears to be successful.”
I could only sigh upon hearing his reasoning. ‘Every program has bugs.’ I tell myself whenever I see Codec making great strides in being human and then we encounter setbacks such as these. Although, whenever I look in the mirror and see my new reflection, I have to admit it was hard to be angry or disappointed at Codec. At the very least, his judgment on anything physical is pretty spot on.
“I will be happy to assist you in acting like a “cocky hot jock in public” as you have the appropriate body for such.” Codec said to me excitedly.
I let out a deep sigh.”It doesn’t work like that Codec and can you please drop “cocky hot jock in public” thing already?”
“No, I cannot erase the fact that you have a-”
After letting him repeat the same line, I asked him to take our pictures because this was a moment worth remembering and Codec was more than happy to assist with that request.
Hopefully our goal of getting him to be more human doesn’t slow down while I’m like this.
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