Artificial Intelligence with Personality
William Gibson has created a world where virtual reality and AI (Artificial Intelligence) programming have merged to create Eunice. Eunice is an advanced piece of technology with her own sassy personality and skills that allow her to alter the plans of her creators. Since she is a new piece of technology she is entrusted to Verity. Verity is our protagonist and is in charge of testing Eunice performance.
Agency 9 Unobtainium - 12 Alfred Mews
Eunice demonstrates her capabilities at a surface level on Chapter 11 Relationship Tree. The quote below is a conversation between Eunice and Verity where Eunice starts the conversation.
“Getting that one off a cam I found there. Two more from street cams. Only have four drones, and you’re using one to dick around with under furniture.”
The girl in 3.7 seemed engrossed in her phone. “What’s she doing?”
“Candy Crush Saga. Nondigital surveillance is weaponized boredom.”
Another feed showed a white man seated behind the wheel of a car, looking straight ahead, apparently unaware of the drone in front of him. Having that forgettable a face would be a plus, she supposed, for doing this.
Startling are the abilities of Eunice. Able to control drones and recognize the faces of strangers all within a matter of seconds. Going as far as recognizing what the individual is doing on their device. When Eunice says “Non Digital surveillance is weaponized boredom”, in other words, observation without the means of technology can spark an idea. Non Digital surveillance refers to the activities people do while not on their phone and weaponized boredom means what can come out of the moments unplugged.
The YouTube video above centers around William Gibson’s books and his thoughts about technology. At 29:00 minutes William Gibson is asked about his thoughts on AI. His response, in order for AI to reach its peak there needs to be a component of human flaw. A flaw Gibson demonstrates through Eunice's character.
“Best I got right now in the might-work-like-a-motherfucker department. Okay?”
Works Cited
"Agency". https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71WqLOpjn4L.jpg
"William Gibson, "Agency"". YouTube, uploaded by Politics and Prose, 29 January 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T9ndDIx-f4
