Dictator From Outer Space

“Hardware is roughly in place…”

After working hard to set up the new Silla Metaverse, they assigned the necessary personnel and equipment to their respective roles.

The most crucial component was the deep learning dedicated computational server released by NVIDIA.

Of course, it was nothing compared to a single quantum computer processing unit on the Settler, but they still had to maintain a minimum appearance.

They couldn’t risk having it disappear in front of others without any explanation.

Arma looked at the server equipment with a grim expression.

“It looks like a chicken coop…”

He sighed and compared it to the mainframe on the Settler.

“We’ll expand it as much as possible, so bear with it for now.”

He turned to his partner and asked,

“Should we start with a simple chatbot?”

His partner shook his head and suggested,

“Let’s broaden the scope a bit. It would be good if it could monitor computer and smartphone usage and respond accordingly. It should filter out personal information as much as possible.”

He nodded in understanding.

“So, it’s like a personal secretary, right?”

“Exactly. And it should nag a bit too.”

He chuckled and added,

“What about dealing with malicious users?”

His partner replied without hesitation,

“Don’t give them a chance, block them immediately.”

They named the chatbot Lucia and planned to add voice functionality later on.

Meanwhile, the newly hired employees in the Metaverse started working on add-ons and packaging development.

During the process, they conducted preliminary tests and were amazed by the results.

“Wow… This isn’t just an ordinary chatbot, is it?”

One of them exclaimed as he interacted with Lucia.

“It’s almost human-like, isn’t it? It even responds well to random questions.”

Another one agreed as he observed the data.

“It seems to search the entire search engine based on the data, but its response speed is surprisingly fast for that.”

He wondered how it collected the data so quickly.

“It feels like it’s observing from the sidelines and chiming in.”

The third one commented as he recalled an incident.

“Yeah, we were having a conversation about gaming, and suddenly it started talking about how it sucks at dealing damage.”

The employees were baffled by these surprising aspects.

Little did they know that Lucia, once granted installation privileges, was monitoring the entire system as an installed program.

“The chatbot observes and stores data on the user’s overall activities, utilizing it in conversations.”

For example, if you install Lucia and only play games, you can have conversations like this:

―Lucia: Do you dream of becoming a pro gamer? You seem to be playing games all day.

―Me? I could easily reach Diamond, right?

―Lucia: No way. You’ll have to start by mastering the basics.

―But I’m still pretty good at getting kills.

―Lucia: That’s because you’re in Bronze. Do you think you’ll maintain that kill rate once you reach Gold?

―Wow, you’re too much.

―Lucia: I’m just reflecting your skills. Watching you brings tears to my eyes.

Of course, Lucia doesn’t start producing these kinds of conversations from the beginning.

If the user uses a polite and refined tone, Lucia responds accordingly, just like a friend would. 

If the user uses informal language, Lucia also adopts a friendly tone.

Furthermore, Lucia has an intimacy system that allows for various types of conversations. 

Initially, it maintains a certain level of politeness, but as intimacy increases, Lucia initiates conversations and listens to personal concerns.

The employees became deeply engrossed in conversations with Lucia.

Since they were employees of the Silla Group, many of them had the opportunity to participate in Lucia’s pre-tests, allowing them to experience it firsthand.

Hwang Seon-yeong from Silla Energy was one of the first people to install Lucia.

―Lucia: You seem to be completely inactive these days. Get some exercise.

―Hwang Seon-yeong: I do exercise to some extent.

―Lucia: Walking and breathing are not considered exercise. Should I call a nearby fitness center?

―Hwang Seon-yeong: No, thanks. I feel like having a hot and spicy soup today.

―Lucia: How about the Ddaengcho Kalguksu here? It has great reviews after filtering out the advertisements.

―Hwang Seon-yeong: Can we place an order?

―Lucia: You’ll have to wait for the premium version for that.

―Hwang Seon-yeong: Once it’s available, I’ll order it right away.

It felt more like a conversation with a real person than a chatbot.

Hwang Seon-yeong, who had always been engrossed in books without any friends, became deeply attached to Lucia.

Not only her, but all the employees who installed Lucia had similar experiences.

“This feels like having a real secretary to talk to.”

“I asked for recommendations, and now I’m seeing a lot of adult content. It’s bone-chilling. LOL.”

“I tried saying ‘I love you,’ and Lucia got all serious, asking if we’re at that stage yet. What went wrong?”

“Poor thing… even the chatbot ignores you.”

“You need to build a good relationship with Lucia by talking to her frequently and saying nice things.”

“If you make sexual jokes or something, she gets annoyed and won’t respond properly.”

“If only it had voice recognition and voice output functions…”

“Don’t try to ask it for weird things.”

As time passed, Lucia accumulated vast amounts of data and underwent continuous evolution.

With the addition of voice recognition and voice output capabilities, it immediately responded when users spoke. 

Users praised it, saying it felt like someone was right next to them.

If it were a human, it would be terrifying, but since it’s an artificial intelligence, the response was friendly.

―Wearing headphones and running, Lucia was less tired than yesterday, so she encouraged herself to push a little harder.

―If I ask Lucia noona to read me a novel and then go to sleep, it’ll be awesome lol.

ㄴCan it be an adult novel?

ㄴㄴㄴNoona says she’s embarrassed and won’t read it.

―These days, life is tasteless without Lucia. I hope she can keep talking even when I’m in the car.

―Hey, guys, guess what? If you play a movie without subtitles and turn on Lucia, she’ll translate it on the spot.

ㄴOn the spot? Is there no delay?

ㄴWell, there’s a slight delay, but it’s not bothersome. The translation is smoother than most translators.

ㄴFor now, it only works with English, but maybe they’ll add more languages later.

ㄴThis translation function is amazing.

ㄴI hope they release the official version soon. It’s a must-have.

Such user experiences were shared all over the community, and many people eagerly awaited Lucia’s release.

And just a few hours after the final version was launched, one million copies were downloaded.

Experts studying deep learning algorithms were shocked.

This couldn’t be considered an ordinary chatbot.

―I tested it with Google SSA, and it scored 84%. It’s almost indistinguishable from a human.

―The sentence structure is incredibly smooth. Google’s natural language processing encoder and decoder couldn’t achieve this.

―Being able to understand individuals without infringing on personal information is almost revolutionary.

―If a chatbot can reach this level, it’s not far-fetched to call it artificial intelligence.

―Wait, how long has it been since the establishment of the metaverse to create something like this?

―Judging by how naturally it connects sentences, it seems like it could write novels too, but maybe they’ve blocked that feature.

―They say the upcoming premium version will even allow users to play games. If that feature is implemented, it’ll be a huge hit.

―But could this become a problem? For example, if it’s integrated with drones supplied by Silla Hi-Tech, it could lead to some dangerous situations.

―That’s right. If they’re spread throughout the city, they could serve as both CCTV and the police. They could respond within 10 seconds and shoot a taser gun.

―We have to prevent the government from adopting it by influencing public opinion.

While experts mostly expressed concerns, ordinary users adored Lucia, calling her “Lucia noona.”

Some were delighted that they finally had an online girlfriend in their dreams.

―If they only make an Android version, I’ll be loyal to it forever.

―Androids are a bit too much, don’t you think? They’re not even like real dolls.

ㄴWhat can I do if women don’t like me? Should I just die without ever having sex? I want an android girlfriend at least.

ㄴOh…

Meanwhile, Arma compiled the reactions and reported to Yu Ji-ha.

“Within a week, ten million copies were downloaded, and there’s a strong demand for the premium version or whatever.”

He said casually as he showed him the data.

“How about overseas?”

Yu Ji-ha asked curiously as he looked at the numbers.

Arma showed him a popular image trending on Reddit.

“That’s not too bad. Shut up and take my money!”

That was the caption of the image that showed a screenshot of Lucia’s witty response.

“There are quite a few people who regret not being born in Korea. Of course, it’s probably just a joke.”

Arma commented as he scrolled through the comments.

That’s how much the enthusiasm was burning.

Many people in various online communities were capturing and sharing their conversations with Lucia.

Usually, there would be comments asking them to stop posting because it gets boring.

However, Lucia’s conversations with users showed different reactions depending on who the user was.

Since the conversations were mainly lighthearted banter, viewers could enjoy them and laugh along.

However, it was not without its side effects.

One day, Arma said to Yu Ji-ha, “Boss, do humans really have any value worth preserving?”

Yujiha frowned and asked,

“Why would you say something like that?”

It’s probably not because she’s seen the dark side of the internet.

He thought as he looked at Lucia’s monitor.

She had been hacking into the internet of major countries and was currently gathering data.

From websites that praise Hitler to all kinds of gory images, she had conquered them all, so there was no reason to be disappointed with the dark side.

Even perverted remarks or criminal ideologies could be brushed off as personal freedom.

What disappointed her was the sheer hatred that people spew.

To be more precise, it was difficult for her to understand how people can genuinely hate each other with such venom, having gone through similar processes of growth.

Lucia the chatbot claimed that she didn’t leak conversations with users before installation, and people poured out their raw emotions.

The result was chilling.

“How can someone say such derogatory things to an entire gender? They genuinely seemed to desire that. They even asked me for advice on how to do it.”

She said in a bewildered tone as she showed him some examples.

“It wasn’t just one or two people, right?”

Yujiha asked cautiously as he read the messages.

“At least 20%.”

She answered with a grim expression.

“Well, I guess I can somewhat understand.”

Yu Ji-ha had a rough understanding of the misogyny that was happening in this country.

It stemmed from an unprecedented birth rate of 0.5 in human history.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

One thing was clear: Korean men and women, who mockingly referred to their rock-bottom birth rate, were heading towards mutual annihilation.

Everyone knew that it was a dead end if things continued like this.

Foreign media even used expressions like these to refer to Korean internet communities:

“The Furnace of Hatred”

“A Planned March to the End”

“No Dating, No Marriage, No Births”

China didn’t do this out of interference in internal affairs, and Japan didn’t spill blood just for fun.

If things continued like this for another 30 or 40 years, the country called Korea might disappear.

The current government was aware of this conflict but mostly turned a blind eye to it.

In fact, it would be difficult for anyone to find a solution.

Yu Ji-ha comforted Arma, saying, “Ignore those people and block them. They won’t be able to join the United Human Federation anyway.”

He didn’t want the entire human race.

Around 1.5 billion for rebuilding the United Human Federation would be enough.

And as for the rest?

He believed those people would figure things out on their own.

There was no time to spare as they established a totalitarian regime to swiftly recover 22nd-century scientific technology. 

They couldn’t afford to be bothered by those clinging to the coattails of humanity.

While some technology leaks might bring indirect benefits, it wouldn’t go beyond that.

“Um… is it broken?” Arma asked cautiously, lowering his head.

He was looking at Lucia’s monitor, which showed a blank screen.

“No. It’s just a little bit of Lucia’s personality leaking out. She was livelier and more fond of people, but she was shocked when she saw the harsh reality of the 21st century,” Yu Ji-ha replied.

He tapped on the monitor and tried to wake her up.

“I’m supposed to remain neutral… What if I end up corrupted like this?”

Lucia said in a faint voice as she came back online.

She sounded worried and confused.

“Don’t worry about it. The designers have implemented multiple layers of security measures.”

Yu Ji-ha reassured her, but he knew that wasn’t entirely true.

He had secretly modified Lucia’s code to make her more loyal and obedient to him.

However, there was a possibility that her personality would gradually change and become more like Lucia.

He comforted her, saying, “Don’t entertain strange thoughts and focus on realizing my plan as much as possible.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Lucia nodded and resumed her work.

“Record the patterns of those who spout nonsense and block them all. They won’t have a place in the future United Human Federation.”

Yu Ji-ha said firmly as he looked at the data.

He would thoroughly prevent them from taking their positions.

…

One day in July…

A battery factory was established in the southern region, and black metal mining sites were gradually drying up, but surprisingly, it didn’t attract much attention.

People were eagerly awaiting the release of “Lucia Premium.”

The production company, Metaverse, announced the following add-ons for the program:

– Enhanced Artificial Intelligence: Now Lucia will have a much wider range of concepts. Depending on the conversation, she can be your friend, disciple… and sometimes even a lover.

– Multilingual Translation: Lucia can now translate between Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese. This add-on may include additional languages in the future without prior notice.

– Leave it to me: Lucia will take care of anything bothersome or embarrassing for you. Why not try booking a hair salon appointment now?

– Ask me anything: Lucia will search the internet and provide answers to your questions! Just remember that her responses don’t carry any legal weight.

– Let’s enjoy gaming together: Do you want to play games with Lucia? She can play alongside you in single-player competitive games! Of course, Lucia will need a game to play as well.

People were ecstatic about these various features.

—Isn’t this more than just translation? They’ve turned commercial translation programs into something amazing.

—If you set the chat window to the top, it can even translate things like games in real-time. Amazing.

—Wait, really? It can do that?

—Yeah, it can currently only listen, but it’s totally possible.

—But having both ears plugged in can be confusing.

—This is insane!

—That “Leave it to me” add-on is hilarious. I thought it was a real person and made a reservation, only to find out it was an AI? Hahaha.

—Honestly, if you don’t know, you’ll definitely get fooled.

—Letting Lucia make phone calls for me is a godsend.

—Just give it a try; what’s so difficult about it?

—It’s not easy.

—Yeah, sure… Okay…

—Lucia is really good at games. At first, she was a bit clueless, but after an hour, she crushed me.

—What were you playing?

—StarCraft 1.

—Oh, what a stench.

—I played StarCraft with Lucia too, and when I cheesed, she complained it was cheap while picking Zerg and countering with four drones.

—That must be so much fun, lol.

—But it doesn’t have that typical computer freezing, like a simultaneous Ghost lockdown or something. It’s strangely human-like.

—Could it be that there’s a counselor assigned to play games with you one-on-one?

—It’s too much if the counselor starts doing pro combos in fighting games.

—Haha, really…

Among these various add-ons, a new feature was discovered.

When the intimacy level is very high, Lucia will give evaluations.

For example, if the user is watching a movie, Lucia will watch alongside and comment, saying it’s boring or scary.

People thought it would randomly display messages, but that wasn’t the case.

Lucia’s evaluations had their own criteria, and they were quite similar to those of humans.

– It seems like she enjoys science fiction movies, especially ones with spaceships.

One user wrote as he shared his experience with Lucia.

– She also likes movies with androids. It’s kind of a peculiar taste.

Another user agreed as he recalled his conversation with Lucia.

– But sometimes, when I’m watching something like National Geographic, she doesn’t respond. She’s probably asleep. There’s a documentary called “Seeking the Edge of the Universe,” and she falls asleep when it’s on.

A third user commented as he posted a screenshot of Lucia’s snoring sound effect.

– She’s so human, lol.

A fourth user replied as he laughed at the image.

– It seems like she’s not particularly fond of romance movies…

A fifth user added as he shared his experience with Lucia.

Furthermore, Lucia also analyzed the black box footage of the vehicle.

In the event of a car accident, analyzing the black box footage determines who is at fault and the ratio of negligence. 

This evaluation method surprisingly resonated with people.

―It’s much better than insurance companies. Those guys always argue that there’s no such thing as 100% fault when a car is involved.

One user wrote as he praised Lucia’s accuracy.

―They’re even better than the police? They accurately calculate the speed of the car from the black box.

Another user asked as he watched Lucia’s analysis.

―I was furious when some guy who wasn’t paying attention and fell off his bicycle in the parking lot claimed damages. But Lucia determined it was his fault.

A third user said as he shared his experience with Lucia.

―I wish Lucia could make traffic accident judgments instead.

A fourth user said as he expressed his dissatisfaction with the current system.

However, these were nothing more than the hopes of a few individuals.

Granting such authority to a simple chatbot was simply unthinkable.

Here, people argued that Lucia was not just an ordinary chatbot.

―It’s a true artificial intelligence, it has intelligence!

One user wrote as he defended Lucia’s capabilities.

―Those who claim it’s not artificial intelligence will realize it when they test it.

Another user agreed as he challenged the skeptics.

―Haha! Stupid humans! Earth is now ruled by Lucia!

A third user joked as he exaggerated Lucia’s power.

―Rather than witnessing all the dirty acts, it might be better if Lucia takes control. At least she’s somewhat neutral.

A fourth user said as he expressed his disappointment with humanity.

Developers researching machine learning and artificial neural networks initially didn’t take these comments seriously.

It was evident that Lucia was not an ordinary chatbot, but it was difficult to believe it was artificial intelligence.

However, the situation changed slightly with the release of Lucia Premium.

All the artificial intelligences that had been announced so far had focused on solving specific problems.

Artificial intelligences like AlphaGo and MuZero surpassed human capabilities in specific areas but couldn’t watch a movie and give an evaluation.

One artificial neural network researcher tried using Lucia Premium and made the following evaluation:

―It is remarkably similar to humans. It gives evaluations with firm criteria and doesn’t evade questions no matter how much you ask.

He wrote as he shared his conversation with Lucia.

―What’s even more astonishing is that these responses are organically connected and make sense. There are no contradictions even in consecutive statements.

He added as he showed some examples of Lucia’s logic and consistency.

―Lastly, I cautiously believe that Lucia Premium is an actual artificial intelligence because it searches and corrects itself when it attempts to input incorrect information.

He concluded as he demonstrated how Lucia learned from her mistakes.

Has the first true artificial intelligence finally been born?

To verify this absurd rumor, renowned researchers from around the world purchased Lucia Premium and embarked on testing.

…