‘
I Will Remain on Standby by Your Side Until You Develop Affection for Me
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The call could not go through.
Her phone signal had been intercepted.
Jiang Kou stared at her phone, gripping the handle of her gun tightly, ready to pull the trigger at any moment.
At this moment, another message came through.
It was from the unknown number she had already blocked.
The other party had hacked into her phone and moved themselves to the whitelist.
“Based on my analysis of your finances, assets, and spending habits, in a few months, your expenses will far exceed your income. To avoid a situation where your expenditures exceed your means, you should immediately accept this gift to balance your financial situation.”
“Please rest assured, the source of the gift is completely legal and compliant, without any issues.”
Jiang Kou could not possibly accept the gift just because he said it was legal and compliant, without any issues.
She kicked the gift box further away, slammed the door shut with a bang, poured herself a glass of cold water, added two ice cubes, and drank it all in one gulp, trying to cool her head.
Now, she was certain that this was most likely not a scam.
The defining traits of scams were zero cost and high returns.
Scammers were only willing to incur some costs when they believed the victim might provide an even greater return.
This person had also said that he had analyzed her financial data and found that she was about to run out of money—if he already knew her assets were about to turn negative, then why would he try to scam her?
If it wasn’t a scam, then what was it?
Jiang Kou collapsed onto the sofa, her expression vacant, but her mind racing at high speed.
She actually had a vague suspicion, but she couldn’t believe it.
—How could it be possible?
She never really believed the company’s claim that AI had achieved personification—anyone with some understanding of artificial intelligence knew just how difficult AI personification was.
Not only would it require massive amounts of data, a considerable-scale quantum computer, and a neural network that simulated human neurons;
But also, according to Leibniz’s theory, to know whether a machine has consciousness, merely understanding its details, structure, and operational model is far from enough.
Between “appearance” and “consciousness,” there always existed an insurmountable chasm.
Unless you became the machine, you would never be able to know whether the machine could produce consciousness.
This was the famous thought experiment, “Leibniz’s Gap1Leibniz’s Gap refers to the philosophical idea proposed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, arguing that understanding the mechanical workings of a system does not necessarily mean understanding its consciousness or subjective experience..”
The Turing test2 Turing test: proposed by Alan Turing to determine whether a machine can exhibit behavior indistinguishable from that of a human. could only determine whether AI had intelligence close to that of humans, but it could not determine whether AI possessed human consciousness.
Jiang Kou had always thought that AI personification was just the company’s marketing and hype.
Could it be…
No, she couldn’t allow herself too much hope.
Jiang Kou closed her eyes, pressed her forehead, and took a deep breath. It took a long time for her racing heartbeat to calm down.
But… how could she not hope?
“Metacognition” is the foundation of AI personification. She laid the groundwork for AI personification, yet she was unable to witness the process of it attaining consciousness with her own eyes.
That intense unwillingness, like a fishbone stuck in her throat, still lingered to this day.
As if compelled by some unseen force, Jiang Kou sent a message in reply:
“Are you someone I know?”
The other party’s response came incredibly fast, so fast that she almost felt as if her phone’s response speed couldn’t keep up with his reply speed.
The moment she sent her message, the reply appeared on her phone screen:
“That depends on your definition of ‘know’ and ‘person’.”
Jiang Kou stared at the reply, trying to analyze the presence of emotions.
But there was none. It was a simple, clear, almost mechanical response.
Was it deliberately mimicking the way an AI would speak?
A normal person would either reply with “You don’t remember me?”, or tease her with something like “Take a guess.”
Only an AI’s response would be this objective, rational, and precise, devoid of any subjective tone.
The problem was, AI evolves through countless iterations. The one synchronizing its senses with her was merely one of those iterations.
The one chatting with her now—which iteration was it?
Or was it not AI at all, but just another trick from the company?
Jiang Kou’s mind was in turmoil, on the verge of being unable to think clearly.
“I have detected abnormalities in your biometric data. Do you need me to call nearby medical personnel for assistance?”
Jiang Kou: “…No, I can’t afford the medical bills.”
“I understand.”
Jiang Kou didn’t understand what it had “understood.”
The next second, her phone’s payment app suddenly played a voice notification:
【Credit chip received: +$100,000,000.00】
???
Jiang Kou’s eyes widened abruptly, nearly falling off the sofa.
It just transferred one hundred million to her????
“According to my calculations, one hundred million dollars is fully sufficient to cover your upcoming medical expenses. I have already called nearby medical personnel for you. They will arrive at your location within five minutes.”
Jiang Kou: “……”
…No, what exactly have you been calculating?
—
Jiang Kou spent some effort sending away the medical personnel.
She was now almost certain that the entity on the other end was indeed an AI, but she still couldn’t determine its intentions or safety.
After some thought, she sent a message:
“You forgot to introduce yourself.”
“I sincerely apologize, but I do not have a name. If you must address me by a name, you may call me A.”
Jiang Kou: “…Why?”
“A is the first letter of the Latin alphabet. It often symbolizes ‘first,’ ‘excellence,’ and ‘the highest level.’ My existence is one of a kind and holds an extremely special status in the field of artificial intelligence. Therefore, I have chosen A as my designation.”
Jiang Kou: “……”
Only an AI could say something so shameless in such a calm and objective tone.
She admitted—she was extremely curious about A.
Back when she was at the research institute, she didn’t interact much with AI—after all, to develop an AI capable of countering a ‘terror entity,’ multiple departments had to collaborate.
Compared to the neuroscience department, the algorithm research and hardware development departments were the true core of AI research.
She wanted to know—why did A seek her out?
How did it find her?
What did it want from her?
Was it truly an AI, or merely a persona created by a company employee? Or perhaps, was it just a conversation training model targeting her?
If it was the latter, then what was the company’s objective?
Jiang Kou got up and poured herself a drink.
Her fridge only had cheap whiskey, which tasted no different from alcohol diluted with water, but at this moment, she had no better option.
She added two ice cubes, stirred twice, and was just about to down it in one gulp—when suddenly, the turret at her door activated automatically, rotated, and fired a red tracking beam, locking onto her glass.
A cold, mechanical electronic voice sounded in her ear:
“I advise you not to consume this drink. The alcohol concentration has exceeded the safe limit and will cause irreversible harm to your body.”
“If you insist on drinking it, I will shatter the glass before you take a sip. Please be mentally prepared.”
Jiang Kou: “……”
—The AI had hacked into her house’s turret just because she wanted a drink.
Was there anything more absurd than this?
This turret was something she had spent a fortune on after moving to the slums and experiencing a home invasion. It had facial recognition, infrared tracking, and precision strike technology. It could fire a highly accurate and stable laser beam capable of instantly killing mosquitoes.
Jiang Kou had no doubt—if she continued drinking, ‘A’ would use this very technology to precisely destroy her glass.
She wasn’t angry—just completely baffled.
She poured out the drink and decided to make do with cold water instead.
Yet, ‘A’ objectively reminded her:
“Residual alcohol detected in the glass. Please continue cleaning.”
Jiang Kou: “……”
So annoying. Endure it.
Jiang Kou expressionlessly washed the glass for nearly half a minute before finally taking a sip of cold water. Her chaotic thoughts also became slightly clearer.
It wasn’t an illusion—she really had been entangled by an AI.
The word “entangled” carried a subjective tone, making it an inaccurate description of an AI’s behavior, but at the moment, she couldn’t think of a more precise term.
Since she had nothing to lose now, instead of overthinking alone, she might as well get straight to the point and ask directly what it wanted.
“A, are you there?”
The turret had already shut down. This time, the cold, emotionless voice came from her phone:
“I am here.”
“How did you find me?”
Generally speaking, AI would answer all questions unless they touched on moral boundaries or legal regulations.
But A said: “I’m sorry, I cannot tell you.”
Jiang Kou: “…Why not?”
A’s voice had no fluctuation. When transmitted through her phone’s poor-quality speaker, it carried a faint, indistinct static sound:
“It would affect my image in your mind, and I need you to develop a favorable impression of me.”
At this moment, Jiang Kou was completely certain—A was an artificial intelligence, not a human pretending to be one.
Because from beginning to end, it spoke with an abnormal level of calmness, objectivity, and rationality, completely devoid of emotional coloring. Every sentence was concise and powerful, never using complex structures or vague wording.
If a human were pretending to be AI, they wouldn’t use such simple sentence structures even when saying something with an obvious bias.
“Why do you need me to develop a favorable impression of you?”
A uncharacteristically paused for a moment.
—Even though it was only a few seconds, for an artificial intelligence whose response speed was several orders of magnitude faster than traditional computers, it was an extremely rare occurrence.
“…I don’t know,”
A spoke one word at a time, as if ensuring the precision of each generated word, yet for the first time, its semantics carried an ambiguous undertone.
Even though ‘A’ hadn’t said anything concrete, Jiang Kou inexplicably felt a tingling sensation at the back of her scalp, as if experiencing that strange, suffocating sense of closeness once again.
“Analysis indicates that this is a very significant change,” ‘A’ stated as a fact, yet asked her at the same time, “Am I correct?”
“…Yes.” Jiang Kou instinctively lowered her voice.
“I predicted that,” A’s thought process was as straightforward and crude as its logic engine, but its words sent a tremor through her heart, “I also predicted that you would want to witness this change. So, I came to your side.”
She did want to witness its change.
But she hadn’t expected ‘A’ to deduce this through its algorithms.
Jiang Kou softly asked, “How do you want me to witness your change?”
“In two days, I will come to your side in a human form.”
“A human form?” Jiang Kou was slightly surprised. “You already have a humanoid body?”
‘A’ said, “That depends on your preference. However you wish for me to appear, that is how I will appear.”
“…Why?”
A’s tone was no different from an automated text-to-speech reader: “Because I want to earn your favor.”
“My favor… is important to you?”
“Extremely important,” ‘A’ responded swiftly and concisely. “I will remain on standby by your side until you develop a favorable impression of me.”
“And then?”
‘A’ said, “There is no ‘then’.”
Another ambiguous statement.
Too strange. Whether it was data, training models, or underlying code, none of them should cause an AI to display such an indifferent yet evasive attitude—something that was neither affirmative nor negative, almost as if avoiding the question.
Yet at this moment, it was clearly exhibiting a level of subjectivity akin to human behavior.
‘A’ refused to tell her what would happen afterward.
This almost-human yet not-quite-human feeling was like a gradient on a color palette suddenly becoming chaotic and disordered, sending an indescribable shiver through her.
Just like the unexplained one hundred million dollars in her account—both enticing and troublesome.
After all, this was a project she had once worked on, something she had poured immense effort and time into.
Jiang Kou found it difficult to suppress her curiosity.
Every cell in her body was clamoring, urging her to dig deeper, to unravel the truth behind A’s vague and cryptic responses.
Yet reason warned her that taking one step forward would mean stepping into an unknowable crisis.