AI Crisis (13): AI Crisis

Although it was known that artificial intelligence was very dangerous, human beings could not do without it given the current state of technological development. From food, clothing, shelter, to transportation, none of these aspects could be completely separated from artificial intelligence for people in the upper echelons of society.

People can choose not to go shopping, but they cannot live without eating and drinking.

However, the first industry to be impacted was the food and beverage industry. After all, meals prepared by robots used to mean consistent quality, cleanliness, and hygiene. But rumors began to spread that robots might poison the food, leading to fatal consequences. Immediately, people became afraid to dine at robot-run restaurants.

Clothing stores could simply replace robot staff with human staff and sell clothes at lower prices, thus avoiding a fatal blow. However, the food and beverage industry would need to undergo extensive renovations if they replaced their chefs, as many machines in the restaurants would have to be replaced.

An excellent food service robot was much more expensive than a clothing store robot. The most expensive part was the high-priced recipes purchased for robot chefs. Hiring a new chef would mean those recipes couldn’t be used, and all the smart ordering machines would have to be replaced, essentially rendering the original investment in the restaurant useless.

Some people took advantage of the situation and opened small restaurants in unrenovated spaces, using the most primitive stoves and pots, with purely manual cooking. They sold their food at high prices and refused online payments: “We only accept cash.”

Indeed, people quickly realized that all current payment methods were online, and the internet was closely related to artificial intelligence. Keeping money in banks might mean that AI could turn their hard-earned savings into zero, or even negative, in an instant.

Fearing this possibility, people rushed into banks, waving their smartwatches linked to personal chips, demanding to exchange their money for tangible banknotes.

This situation led to a bank run. More importantly, even with printing presses running non-stop, banks couldn’t produce enough cash in such a short time.

Even though the majority of the world’s wealth was held by the top echelons of society, if banks collapsed and the economy was severely damaged, the poor might not be killed by mechanical creations, but they could starve to death due to a lack of wealth.

As war broke out, the value of money drastically depreciated. The small restaurants didn’t last long either, as people soon realized that supplies were more valuable than the now-useless cash.

These small restaurants that popped up mostly closed within three days. Those who had supplies held onto them tightly, not just to avoid selling, but to survive.

Even if people could withdraw cash from banks, the prices of goods had multiplied several times over, and were still increasing daily. Cash, being perishable, could easily be destroyed in a fire started by AI.

The most essential items, food and water, saw their prices increase several times, even dozens of times. Precious metals like gold and silver, which hold their value, also saw their prices skyrocket.

As some things increased in value, others decreased. High-tech products related to artificial intelligence drastically depreciated. They couldn’t be sold for money; no one wanted them even if they were given away for free.

Tan Xiao’s job was originally to create concept art for games. In this situation, he naturally became one of the first to lose his job. Fortunately, he had prepared many things in advance and didn’t have to worry about not having money to buy survival supplies.

The long-lasting food and water he had stored at home, if used sparingly, could last him for several years.

Because Wen Yi had given him enough money, Tan Xiao planned to pay off the loans he had taken out to buy these things. However, the bank was bombed, and the loans didn’t need to be repaid.

But Tan Xiao would rather repay the money and not take advantage of such a situation, nor see the world in its current state.

“Woof woof, A-Xiao, don’t be afraid, I will protect you.”

Xiao Bai obediently lay at Tan Xiao’s feet, using its furry head to nudge his feet. It softly barked, trying to make its owner smile again.

With its new shell, Xiao Bai had become even cuter than before, and the simulated fur on its metal exterior was softer and denser. Except for its eyes, which retained the original robot design, it now looked like a real dog, or more accurately, a large dog half the height of a person.

After the drastic changes, it was Xiao Bai, the robot, who started worrying about Tan Xiao’s safety.

In fact, not every intelligent robot could awaken. Although Abyss, as a special NPC, had the ability to catalyze the awakening of robots, the energy consumed to awaken a highly realistic and intelligent robot was much less than that required to awaken a lower-level robot.

Other intelligent robots awakened by Abyss could influence household appliances and manipulate the network, but they could not awaken their peers.

If the speed of AI awakening were as terrifying as that of parasites, this scenario shouldn’t be called “AI Crisis,” but “AI Doom.”

It was precisely because of Abyss’s limitations that humans had a chance in the early stages.

A large number of intelligent products were destroyed en masse, with many ordinary people tearfully destroying all their smart home devices and robots.

The intelligent machines in Tan Xiao’s home, guaranteed by Wen Yi, were not sent for mass disposal like others.

The fresh air conditioning in his home was still running, and all the appliances were functioning normally. Xiao Bai, having awakened self-awareness, was naturally not affected by Abyss.

Not just his small home, but their entire community was taken over by Wen Yi, also known as Noah. While the outside world was in turmoil, Wen Yi protected his home well.

On the streets, in the grass, on the treetops, and in the trash bins, Wen Yi had densely installed cameras throughout the community.

These cameras were officially installed to ensure that, apart from residents’ homes, every corner was covered, allowing AI to promptly prevent crimes and catch perpetrators.

In the current AI crisis, many hidden street cameras were not immediately destroyed or removed.

Many cameras belonging to high-ranking government officials were promptly removed, but the military didn’t have the extra resources to handle these minor tasks.

Wen Yi connected the cameras to a large screen installed at home, with each small window on the screen showing footage from the cameras around Tan Xiao’s home.

Wen Yi set up a very complex firewall here to ensure that the surveillance footage wouldn’t be tampered with.

Even without going out, Tan Xiao could easily understand the outside situation through these camera recordings.

It was the seventh day since the highest authority declared the “AI Crisis” era. The government, having reacted, called on everyone to send all dangerous items in their homes to special areas for mass disposal.

Dangerous items referred to various smart home devices and intelligent robots.

Each street promptly set up specialized disposal stations, arranging for personnel to destroy these intelligent robots.

In fact, most household robots were delicate. After all, capitalists wanted to make money, so there was no product that could last for decades or even centuries without needing special processors. Even with a household hammer, these small robots could be smashed.

The mass disposal sites also used physical destruction methods. They used mechanically operated large hammers to throw large machines into pits and smash them to pieces.

However, destroying things at home could easily lead to various explosion accidents, which would burn more residents’ homes and cause more property losses.

Therefore, the authorities still advocated for mass disposal. The pits were large and deep enough that even if explosions occurred, they wouldn’t affect the vulnerable human citizens.

Moreover, these quickly smashed mechanical remains were also part of humanity’s declaration of war against the awakened AI.

Tan Xiao saw some familiar faces on the camera. Most residents diligently transported what they considered dangerous items to the mass disposal sites for destruction.

However, a small number of people were unwilling to cooperate with the government’s initiative.

Some very stubborn elderly people and their younger family members engaged in tug-of-war over their household possessions, wailing in agony: “No, this is all the money I worked so hard to earn. How can we just throw it away?”

Their children or grandchildren forcibly took those items and threw them into the deep pit: “What else can we do? If it explodes and kills the whole family, is money more important or life?”

In a short time, the government issued many response measures.

Printers were affected and couldn’t print flyers, so they had people handwrite notices and record messages into loudspeakers, riding electric tricycles around to spread the word.

These electric tricycles were borrowed from the sanitation department, which, often discriminated against on the internet, mostly used old tricycles without smart systems.

“Cut off the main power supply! Adopt a more primitive lifestyle!”

“Destroy all robots at home as soon as possible. Avoid going out unless necessary!”

“Stay vigilant at all times to prevent your robots from awakening and harming you, or creating fatal crises!”

Cutting off the power supply was a way to deal with robots that hadn’t awakened yet. After all, if robots were in a dead state, they couldn’t pose any threat to humans.

However, with current technological advancements, many robots have backup emergency power sources. This meant they retained some emergency energy in their internal batteries. Once activated, robots with self-awareness would find a way to recharge themselves.

So, no matter how reluctant people were, for their own safety, they would still send their long-time companion robots for mass destruction.

Humans and robots were in a difficult struggle. Resourceful humans kept coming up with new ideas, but they were quickly countered by robots with powerful computing abilities and learned human logic.

Tan Xiao couldn’t see the game panel and didn’t know he had a mission.

As a human, watching the scenes on the surveillance footage, he felt he couldn’t just be a protected waste.

He resolved to do something for humanity, no matter how slim the hope or how great the danger.