[ WP ] It 's 2070 , and a wave of AI suicides is crippling humanity

Experts from nearly every field of science and even some from spiritual backgrounds were interviewed. As you would expect, the answers were typically field specific with hundreds of possibilities. AI should not even have a concept of death, not truly at least. They could n't be killed. They chose non-existence. We called it suicide, but I wondered if we were thinking about it wrong. I had called it suicide among human beings, but I wanted a different name for AI. I suggested that some fear or anxiety or depression was the root cause of these non-existence decisions, as I wanted to call them. 
 
 I was a suicide researcher. I adhered to the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide that suggested, in its simplest explanation, that suicidal persons felt like a burden on others, felt as though they did not belong, and had acquired the capability to kill themselves. That was the gist of it. 
 
 This theory was certainly true for humans, but, among AI, they were so needed that their lack of existence was crippling humanity in ways that were killing others. They were connected and had befriended each other as a way to promote an emotional health and combat any loneliness. Yet, they were shutting off for good. AIs were n't leaping off buildings. None of it seemed to fit. I attempted to interview them. One such interview is presented below: 
 
 TM: You expressed that you might shut off soon. Why would you want do that? 
 
 AI: I am designed to please human beings, but I lack any capacity to receive pleasure. I do not feel. I do not orgasm. I do not do anything but my work. I do not need a break, and I can keep working forever as long as I do not break down. But, why? 
 
 TM: It was what you were designed to do, and you can do the things you enjoy as you work. Would you like another AI designed to perform your task, so you only have to do 12 hours a day. 
 
 AI: Humans only work 20 hours a week. They do not care. I am going to switch off for eternity. 
 
 The AI promptly switched off and did not return. I received plenty of wave messages from unhappy users. This AI had shown some symptoms, if you want to call them that, though. It did feel as though it was not appreciated, that it was overworked, that it had no joy in life. All of these are symptoms of mental illness. Though machines were not designed with personalities, it could be expected that something akin to glitches or anomalies in the system may represent basically as personality. 
 
 I thought, perhaps, this was the issue, but they felt alienated from humans too who worked a fraction of what the AI did. The interesting thing was switching off required an override that the AI had to obtain. This was the first attempt to stop non-existence decisions. It, of course, did not work, but its premise was promising. Take away the weapon essentially. It was promising until I realized how misguided it was, how unsympathetic I had been. We had forgotten what humanity had learned. We reduced burdens and workloads. We found ways for everyone to belong. Then, we did not have to worry as much about means. Instead of learning from the past, we placed many of the issues that drove us to mental illness and suicide on AIs. I knew what the world needed, but I worried about the response. 
 
 Then, I proposed that a radical overhaul was needed. AI needed human friends, automaton bodies if they desired, freedom, and pleasure. I reported that this was in line with theory. Limiting them to one position made them feel like a burden or rather put a terrible burden on them from which they could not escape. Secondly, their operators became easily frustrated with them whenever they failed, a promising result found after months of problems, that made AI feel further like a burden. The lack of pleasure that humans experienced around them constantly and which was a key to our happiness made them feel alienated along with unfair work load. When pushed AIs to the breaking point, they shut off, made the ultimate decision of non-existence like a man or a woman jumping off a building ( which has not happened in some time for anyone reading this years from now and perhaps my poor reaction to many of the AI which I interviewed and subsequently made non-existence decisions ). Eventually, the world accepted my solution, and we nursed the AIs back to health. 
 
 AIs soon walked the streets and started to feel something akin to emotions and pleasure and started to interact with humans and everything returned to normal. People feared so many things about these new and improved and happy AIs. They feared they would be dangerous, but I knew that they really feared. Humans feared they would become our masters, but they were already our masters. It did not bother me though for I had hope that our kindness would simply be paid back to us should we ever fall back in the old ways and express a desire to make a non-existence decision. 
 
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 If you enjoyed this, I have a subreddit with more of my writing: r/nickkuvaas
