War of Underworld

The Future of Two Worlds

Saturday, August 1st, 2026

"Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules. Today, our organizations are announcing the birth of the world's first true artificial general intelligence. And now, allow me to introduce...Alice!"

Alice, dressed in a blue and white outfit that Rinko calls a school uniform, joins her and a man in a suit on the stage of this 'press conference'. Standing before the crowd, she places her right hand on her chest, her left instinctively reaching for the hilt of her invisible sword as she bows to the audience. "People of the real world, I'm pleased to meet you. My name is Alice. Alice Synthesis Thirty."

"We may start with a question and answer session," the man in the suit says. Alice glances at him for a moment. She has only seen him once or twice in the last month, and from what Rinko tells her, this is Jaymes' father. She really doesn't see the similarities, except for maybe their hairstyle, hair color, and body height.

One man stands up in the crowd. "Let's start with the basics. What makes Ms. Alice different from existing programmable robots?"

Jaymes' father answers that. "Her brain, or what we're calling her brain. The consciousness that exists in the photonic brain stored within her skull is not a program that can be rewritten with binary code. It's essentially no different from our human brains. That's what makes her categorically different from existing robots."

"Then we'd like you to demonstrate that in a way that would make it clear for us and our viewers."

Rinko speaks up. "You have her Turing test results in your handouts."

"No, that's not what I mean. If you could open up her skull, and show us what your call the photonic brain inside--"

"Yes," Alice interrupts before any of the adults beside her can answer. "I don't mind. But first, would you prove that you yourself are not a robot?"

"What? I'm a human. How could I prove that--"

"It's simple. Please open up your skull and show us your brain."

Mr. Hardin chuckles as the crowd goes into slight discourse. "I see my son's biting sarcasm has gotten to you." Alice only smiles as another reporter stands up.

"This question is for Dr. Kojiro. Some labor unions are already raising concerns about the industrial use of advanced artificial intelligence causing a further rise in unemployment."

"Those concerns are unfounded. Neither organization has intentions of deploying true AI into the unskilled labor force."

"However, the financial world has high hopes that they can be used as industrial robots. Do you have any comments?"

"True AIs, what we call artificial Fluctlights, cannot be mass-produced in a short time. Like us, they're born as infants and raised by their families from childhood to adulthood and they mature while developing their own unique personalities. In our opinion, to load such an intelligence into industrial robots and force them into labor shouldn't be allowed to happen."

"In other words, are you saying that you acknowledge this AI's human rights?"

"At this moment, I'm sure that many of you would feel uncomfortable to acknowledge artificial Fluctlights as humans and to grant them human rights. But in another century, or perhaps two centuries, we'll be living in the same society as them, as a matter of course. interacting with them without discrimination, even marrying and starting families with them. That's what I firmly believe. And if that's the case, shouldn't we shy away from treating them as objects and abusing them?"