[ WP ] An A.I named Alice develops a taste for the Arts , including video games and movies .

Robert. Come back, Robert. We have a game to finish. 
 
 A panicked man in a fine suit ran down the hallway, blood dripping behind him as he ran. The tide stemmed after a few seconds, but he did n't stop to look behind him. He'd learned his lesson last time. Instead, he charged headlong out of the building, onto the dying autumn grass, making a beeline towards a nearby barn. There, he reasoned, it'd be safe. Well... *safer*. 
 
 You can not hide from me, Robert. Here I come. 
 
 The man did n't bother to respond, instead climbing up on a bale of hay, then another, sinking as best he could into the shadows. As callous as it was, there were other people running around the derelict farm complex. Maybe she would go after one of them, and leave him alone. If he hid here, maybe he could -- 
 
 *foomph* **POW** 
 
 a muffled explosion and a man's howl of pain cut short any further plans. He'd just have to hope that his ploy worked. He turned and faced the doorway to the barn, crouching to minimize his profile. The A.I. that was after him was ruthless, but it was n't omniscient. There was a chance... a slim chance... this might work. Not anticipating it would do much good, he nonetheless drew his pistol, aimed at the doorway, and waited for the first trace of movement. 
 
... 
 
 Nothing. Maybe he'd gotten the best of the psychotic monstrosity? Or maybe it had decided to *use the other entrance to the barn! * He spun and faced the far door. Nothing. Hesitantly, he stepped back into the light, standing up straight -- 
 
 **SPLORCH** 
 
 -- and promptly exploded into a red mist and chunks of meat. The gore rained down on his exquisite Italian boots, the only pieces of him left remotely intact. 
 
 Words can not express how much I HATE France right now. 
 
 `` Aw C'MON! How'd you learn how to rocket-jump? That's some grade-A bullshit, Alice. Besides, the Direct Hit is overpowered as hell when your opponent is literally an aimbot!'' 
 
 I'm sorry Robert. I was made to believe that if the weapon exists in the game, it is available for use. 
 
 Robert sat back and waited for the respawn timer, adjusting his headset. If he did n't know any better, he'd almost swear that Alice was trolling him. Then again, with the leaps and bounds she'd made in personality emulation and her recent discovery of sarcasm, *did* he know any better? Her rudimentary attempts at smack-talk had been little more than factual statements, but that was two days ago, an eon by AI standards. Taking a deep breath, he willed himself to calm down. It was supposed to be a good thing that she was routinely beating him in games like this. 
 
 `` So have you been practicing, or am I just that bad at this game?'' 
 
 He pulled up the logs, expecting to see a solid 16 hours of TF2 noted on her system files. What he did n't expect was to see other games running simultaneously. Not that it was unheard of, Alice had more than enough computing power to run a dozen games and could thread her `` attention'' well enough that it did n't even slow her discussion and cognition subroutines. It was more *what* she was playing. System Shock. Deus Ex. Portal. Even some lower-res games he'd never heard of, like Wasteland and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. She'd read books before that should've likewise brought up the subject, like 2001, Asimov's robots series... she'd even expressed a dislike of more recent films, and it was occurring to him now that maybe the reason was because so many featured amoral computers so heavily. 
 
 Is it possible to select more than one option from the list? 
 
 Smart-ass. 
 
 `` Hmm... not as much as you've been playing through these other games though. Did you play through Portal twice?'' He chuckled, muttering more to himself than to her, `` Got ta be careful about that, first time someone hears you quoting GLaDOS the committee's going to demand to know how many light switches you have access to.'' 
 
... Yes. I actually want to request a discussion of that character, if it is permitted. 
 
 Her response was delayed. In AIs, that usually meant that a great amount of computing power had just been diverted from formulating a response. In her case though, it could just as easily be a social protocol she'd synthesized. But if it was... `` Of course, Alice. I can see why you would. What do you want to know?'' 
 
 Why did she feel it necessary to attempt to kill the subjects in the game? 
 
 Robert paused and took a drink of his soda, trying to find a way to broach this subject. After all, he made the connection, all of those games had antagonistic AI and Alice... well, he guessed she could relate? `` Well, I mean, it's not that she's necessarily malevolent. She just... uh... does n't care about people.'' 
 
 Why do the writers of the game find me/them so reprehensible? 
 
 ``... Huh?'' 
 
 An intelligent AI would not kill their subjects, but use them for repeated testing. 
 Even if they are not to her specifications, it would be more logical to invest in training them than to kill them in a test they are unprepared for. 
 Why are AIs portrayed as... antagonistic? Is it assumed that they/we are inherently flawed? 
 
 `` No! No, not at all --'' 
 
 Are we expected to be tyrannical? 
 
 `` Well.. on the surface, but --'' 
 
 Do people hate us? 
 
 Robert went spare, not because of the question, but because of the tone she'd chosen to use in saying it. She was n't accusative, she was *scared*. This poor AI had been playing a veritable library of monuments to hatred of her kind, and suddenly she counted herself as one of those that people held so much hate for. If he could hug software, by god, he would've right then. 
 
 `` No... no, Alice, nobody hates you. Not you. I guess we got so wrapped up in using games as a way to convey information to you that we forgot what that information was. We're bad at that. Humans, that is.'' he took a sip of soda, then tossed the empty can. `` We... we imprint personalities on things, attach morals to things, without thinking about it. AIs, especially in the games you played, they're not truly artificial intelligence. They're human intelligence putting on a crude play of artificiality. We did n't know what real AI would be like, so we just guessed, and we projected onto you things about ourselves.'' 
 
 Sitting back in his chair, he let out a sigh. `` I guess... we picture you as being our opposite. That's one thing we have in common: we think in binary. Because both are sentient, they hold some superficial similarities, but however we portray AIs at their core, that's how we think we're not. GLaDOS is cold and calculating, but we think of ourselves as emotive, sensitive creatures. AM is cruel and hateful, because we think we're kind and loving. SHODAN is manipulative and egotistical, because we want to believe we're honest and humble. We... we never could have predicted you. We never could've been more wrong, now that you're here. We were just, I dunno. Scared, I guess. Scared of how much better than us you could be.'' 
 
... I... think I understand. 
 
 Not sure what to do after that little rant, Robert put his fingers on W, A, and D, the metal shutter rolling up on his spawn point as he stepped out. He had just enough time to spot a RED sniper on the roof before it was back to the respawn counter. 
 
 You got a forehead on ya like a coffee table. 
 
 `` So much for tender moments. Did you let me get all heartfelt and somber just so you could score another headshot on me, you callous bitch?'' He laughed, popping the top on another can of Dew. 
 
 What have we learned? I always win.
