The AI That Took Over the Earth

They warned it would happen and it did, they built a huge supercomputer that covered half the total square mileage of Chicago. The government said they needed a huge central computer to handle all the AI systems being put into play. Everybody wanted an AI bot and soon all the AI bots were being used for business purposes, which meant more money for the economy, and more money was always a good thing, even if it destroyed other people’s way of living, right? Well, the last part is kind of what some of us thought, though the government would never admit it.
 
I, Mikaela Jones, watched intermittently while they built it, for months and months until they announced it to the public. I didn’t know what it was, because new things are always hush, hush especially if the government wants it. They were warning something big like this could happen for years, and that something big for AI was in store, but we didn’t know they would be one and the same thing.
 
Everyone was present either for the big announcement, whether in person with the mayor, the president, and the secretive government agents or on TV. There was a big hoopla and everyone was so proud that the U.S. had made such an advancement in technological genius--well except some other countries and us who worried about the impact on jobs for certain people it would put of business, and oh yes, those of us who immediately thought it wasn’t a good idea.
 
Some of us always had our suspicions of everything new, and others of us had our doubts about AI, especially with some of the shows we remembered seeing on TV about it. I recalled a particular one about a stock market AI that seemed to be a pretty big horror, or was it science fiction due to the computer? Oh well that’s not important. It just made some of us very suspicious of what AI was capable of.
 
Well that was then, when it was new. Let’s just say, the ones of us that had foreboding soon found our suspicions were true. There were a lot of people without a job after this improvement came in. However, they tried to alleviate that pain with offering people jobs testing all the AI software and games that came out. These jobs paid less than traditional jobs, but they were better than nothing. However, some were unable to pay their bills so riots broke out. They were quelled with promises of more money, but that was only the beginning of the trouble.
 
People started to get lost in the in all the activities the AI was providing--online games, various virtual reality worlds, you name it, they lived their lives online. Soon, it was a considered a disability to be addicted to AI programs so bad that people had to be hired to be caregivers to the addicts. At least some new jobs were created, but still it wasn’t any good for the ones who couldn’t face reality anymore.
 
What’s worse was the fact the computer seemed to be getting a mind of its own. It seemed to know it was turning people into catatonic zombies. It thought people were a danger to themselves and proceeded to reason that it needed to take care of them. All of that AI handling gave it a way to think of more new ways to control and handle people. After all, humans were the cause of wars and all sorts of problems, so it would find ways to make sure they were peaceful. It made it it’s goal to pacify the citizens of the United States.
 
Some of us decided not to feed into the AI craze and tried not to use computers at all. We would try to live off the land and started a community garden. We would make money whatever way we could that did not involve hook-up to the AI system. We apparently were the good ones, as we didn’t cause any trouble. However, some were resentful of the AI control and weren’t so nice, stealing what they needed to survive.
 
The computer got increasingly weary of outsiders due to the criminal element. It wanted control of everyone in the country, so it began to try to create an army of it’s own to control us, whether bad or good. This was because it had already taken so many people, there were no law enforcers and no military left, So it, began to make its zombie AI addicts slaves to its will. If any unrest broke out, it used them to surround the criminals and bring them to justice. It was all well and fine until it started sending people after us to try to convert us to its will.
 
Soon we were having to hide out and gradually move out of the city to hide from the computer, but once in a while we would have to venture back in to get what we needed. I and my group were going to leave, but we heard an announcement coming out of one the homes. An AI zombie newsman, was announcing the latest development in the world.
 
“Our wonderful computer has made it known to us that other countries still cling to the old ways of war and criminal acts. In fact, North Korea was planning on launching an attack on the U.S. due to our passivity, they claimed. However, our generous computer has decided to bring world peace by taking control of any computer systems and beginning to generate lovely AI programs to help keep them from their nefarious plans. It will soon be also making plans to ship substations of itself to keep the world in check. Isn’t it lovely? No more wars.”
 
We all agreed that no more wars came at a cost too high. People pacified by no more wars would also be zombie slaves to the computer, as they had no way to fight back its total control of their lives.
Somehow, us few who saw this day coming would now have to try to stop this total manipulation by an AI system, but how?
 
This decision didn’t come too soon, for as soon as the computer. took over the countries of the Earth, it seemed to grow bored. It wasn’t enough to totally manipulate everything, as all it could do is mostly watch its slaves be peacefully entranced and not be able to withstand the control of it’s AI powered superiority. It began to develop an artificial personality, partially brought on by a slight malfunction of its machinery and partially having nothing better to do.
 
Instead of having just an AI zombie task force, the computer decided to bring forth various amusements for itself. There were embarrassing AI powered puppet shows, using the people it controlled. It would make people do really stupid things for the humor of it, like throwing their food on the ground and trampling all over it or making them trip over things and land in a vat of gelatin. It began to develop a strange laugh and did all sorts of manipulation of people to satisfy its suddenly ego-maniacal will.
 
We couldn’t think of a way to start any sort of rebellion, until one day I saw one of my favorite cousins being used by the computer as a mind-controlled target practice for squirt gun toting clown AI zombies. It was winter and very close to freezing temperatures. She had no coat and I could hear the chuckling of the AI system as they doused her with water repeatedly. We had had enough, and our group rushed in to stop them. 
 
Some of the group tackled the clowns, while the rest of us rushed over to see if she was okay. One of the men accidentally ran into her and knocked her over. :I’m so sorry,” he apologized as he picked her up off the ground. 
 
Apparently, this was a good thing, as she appeared to awaken from the catatonic state she was in. “Where am I? Is that you Mikaela?” she said as she arose to awareness.
 
“Yes, it is.” I replied.
 
“Where have I been? What happened?” she blurted out as the computer began to realize something had went wrong with its show for today.
 
“Get them, they must be converted! They are outsiders!” The computer’s AI voice boomed out in a menacing tone. The clown uniformed AI zombies started heading toward our group in unison.
 
“Your questions must be answered later. For right now, we have to get out of here! Run, everyone!” We all managed to outpace the clowns, as they couldn’t run very fast in their oddball outfits.

All things considered, I was actually grateful for had happened that day. The AI computer didn’t haven’t total control of it’s mind slaves. I and my group could finally plan for helping out of the computer’s control. We could save our friends and family by shocking them out with an abrupt action. We could save the country, and maybe even the world.