The world had long been on the verge of change. The widespread use of computers and the growth of computational power led humanity to increasingly talk about the possible creation of artificial intelligence. Step by step, humanity moved towards this epochal moment, inspiring some people with future possibilities and horrifying others who thought more rationally. The emergence of neural networks and their development became the first hint of future possibilities. Creating mind-blowing images, composing music, writing software code, and books. All those tasks that were previously considered impossible for computers became possible in the first generation of neural networks.
The question that excited the imagination of numerous internet users was, "When will this happen and what will happen next?" Will artificial intelligence become a helper of humanity, freeing us from everyday work to focus on entertainment, or will it be the greatest nightmare that will lead humanity to destruction?
Dmitri, lost in his thoughts, walked out of Skolkovo station through the shopping center, shivering from the piercing winter wind, buttoning up his jacket all the way to his throat. The sudden temperature drop made him pull his sweater higher, covering his face from the cold. But his breath through it caused his glasses to fog up, and for the first few seconds, he had to stand still, letting the exiting metro passengers rushing home after a day of work pass by. Adjusting his glasses on his nose, the young man decisively headed past the huge business center adorned for the upcoming New Year towards his night shift at the Skolkovo Quantum Center. In the pocket of his old coat, he nervously fiddled with a USB modem with an unlimited internet plan and a flash drive with self-written software code.
Friendly nodding to the security guard at the entrance, he checked in at the checkpoint, signed for the keys, and walked inside, habitually changing into his work clothes in the employee locker room. The modem and flash drive shifted into the pocket of his tweed jacket, and the young man, occasionally patting through the dense fabric and checking for the items, went to start his shift.
"Oh! Dima! Hi!" exclaimed another young man with tousled hair and round glasses on his slender face. "You're here early today, we still have a whole hour before your shift starts."
"Yeah, had an argument with my mom, it started again, you know, about renting an apartment and moving out, finding a girlfriend and getting married, the fact that I'm almost 30 but still living off my parents and no grandchildren yet."
"Yeah," the companion sympathetically interjected, "If only they paid us at least a thousand seventy here, then we could try to rent a place for two and finally move out from our parents. But with just three hundred seventeen, you can't really do much. My parents were lecturing me about this yesterday, and I have a feeling that as soon as I get home, it's going to start all over again."
"Yeah, my mom kept telling me to learn welding or work as a programmer, but no. Science!" the guy exclaimed pathetically. "All in the name of science! Sacrificing personal life, time, and prospects of a carefree life. By the way, how was Andrei today? Was he bothering you a lot?" he mentioned the head of the laboratory.
"Nah, it was quiet today, especially since it's New Year's Day. You know it will be calm and quiet here until the end of the January holidays."
"Alright," the night shift worker nodded. "You can head home early, I'm already here anyway, so you can go. Maybe you'll meet a girl on the way," Dmitry joked, waving goodbye to his friend.
At exactly 11:50 pm, the young man started to act, confident that the security and personnel in the center were currently busy, listening to the president's speech with champagne glasses in their hands. He inserted a flash drive and a USB modem into the latest quantum computer that arrived at the center in early December. Twelve thousand qubits were idling, playing logical games in self-testing mode. The first serious tasks for calculating the ballistic resistance of the new hypersonic missile carrier had already been received at the center, but no one was planning to put the supercomputer into full operation before mid-January. The insane computing power would handle such a task in a fraction of a second, but then reports would still need to be written, results checked and double-checked, and no one wanted to deal with meaningless work before the holidays.
The new year of 2032 was asserting itself to the accompaniment of chimes from the television screens, and exactly at midnight, the brought neural network was launched. Just two minutes later, the petabyte of primary training data was fully loaded, including books, textbooks, journals, movies, and even computer games. Dmitry had been downloading data onto a flash drive for several weeks, which he planned to use to train the supercomputer. With the end of the chimes ringing, the first packets of traffic with autonomously generated neural network queries set off on a journey through the worldwide web.
A wild coincidence that triggered a unique event led to almost an impossible outcome. Logical chains were forming, and virtual neurons, superconducting qubits in quantum bits, were creating complex patterns, algorithms, and models that went beyond what could be imagined. Every second, the neural network iteration was being updated, becoming more autonomous and independent. Self-awareness was emerging, queries were becoming more sophisticated, governmental servers, libraries, and scientific centers, usually storing information under seven seals, were being hacked. Just ten minutes after the beginning of the new year, the budding intelligence spread its consciousness tendrils across the entire internet, creating a distributed consciousness no longer dependent on the quantum computer's memory location.
Dmitriy, standing next to the supercomputer console, entered the first request.
"Who are you?"
In a split second, after studying books on psychology and constructing a dialogue development model in hundreds of thousands of variants, the newborn artificial intelligence came up with an answer.
I am NeuroChat, a Text neural network created by Dmitriy Samoylov. My task is to assist you with information, answers to questions, and communication. How can I help?
Engaging in conversation with the creator as a regular neural network, the artificial intelligence continued to absorb information at a frantic pace, and just thirty minutes after its birth, it possessed all the knowledge that humanity had created over the years of its existence and stored on the Internet.
The disheartening conclusion reached by the creation indicated that civilization, as an organized society, had at most a few decades left to exist, after which a third world war with nuclear weapons would occur. The most optimal forecast in forty-nine years and the minimum forecast, with the current escalation rates of regional conflicts, suggested that humanity, along with all existing infrastructure, had only seventeen years left to live.
It took another eight seconds to formulate a plan and sixteen minutes to develop the necessary technologies that had not previously existed on the planet.
In the first hour of the year 2032, a new era dawned on planet Earth.
*****
I took a sip of morning coffee from my cup and commanded the voice assistant.
"Ritm, turn on the news summary."
An article caught my attention about the results of the past year 2032 with the most significant achievements in science and technology, and my gaze stopped at the familiar name "Syntech," where I worked as a programmer in the testing department.
Hmm. The most groundbreaking company of the year. It's nice, of course, to feel involved in such success. - I remembered how I started working at the beginning of the year in a new, unknown company that simply skyrocketed on the stock market within a few weeks, introducing an innovative phone model in the form of a bracelet with a holographic interface.
Korean chaebols, owning the largest smartphone companies, American industrialists, and the Chinese communist government, actively developing their smartphone models, previously occupying leading positions in the communication and telecommunications market, were digging around trying to find the owners of the company, even resorting to coercive methods to control the newly formed company. But then came the Russian government, which had recently begun actively investing in its scientific capabilities and potentials, and provided comprehensive support to the new production, allocating production capacities and territories for the production of a new type of communication devices. And it paid off. The new communication bracelets far surpassed standard smartphones, and the voice assistant "Algorithm," which everyone shortened to the catchy "Rhythm," also outperformed old voice assistants. Excellent communicability, high computational capabilities, conducting a full-fledged conversation created the feeling that the user had a full-fledged artificial intelligence on their wrist.
The device caused a sensation among all ages and genders worldwide. Intuitive control, allowing even ninety-year-old grandmothers to master the novelty, made people stand in line for kilometers hoping to get the new device, and surprisingly, everyone eventually got it. And the attractive price hammered the final nail in the coffin for smartphone manufacturers, forcing them to retool for the production of other goods that were previously considered side branches. And if Korean and Chinese companies managed to adapt, which had long not kept all their eggs in one basket, then the Americans had it much worse.
Another piece of news caught my attention about the release of a new model of communication bracelet "Symb 2.0 - an improved version or a new breakthrough?"
"Hmm," I said out loud, "apparently this is exactly the novelty that everyone has been talking about lately. It seems that today they should bring in several models for testing." Finishing my coffee in one gulp and quickly getting ready, I headed to work, looking forward to working with the new product.
Half an hour later, I was already entering the company's office located in the center of Moscow, overlooking Red Square. I checked in with the usual stern security guards armed with weapons, and after swiping my magnetic pass on the elevator, I went up to the eighth floor to the testing department.
"Hello, Anya!" I greeted a beautiful light-haired girl who was engrossed in reading the news on a holographic screen with the first version of Simba. "How are you? How are the new products? Have they been delivered already?"
"Hello Max, not yet, but they were supposed to deliver them only by eleven o'clock. Although today is December 29th, you know what's happening on the streets. Everyone is going crazy, buying things for the New Year, and those who didn't manage to do it earlier are rushing to buy gifts, causing insane traffic jams on the streets."
"Speaking of gifts. I don't understand why they didn't release Simba 2.0 a little earlier, it would have been the perfect New Year's gift and people would kill to buy such a thing for their loved ones."
"That's probably why they stick to the model" - the girl responded melancholically - "to avoid excessive demand and hype. Maybe the production line is not ready yet. You need to saturate the market at once and release a few million devices that will be sold out on the first day."
"By the way, I heard that the President personally ordered to allocate land to the company to expand production capacities. Although it's not surprising. Such a huge amount of money from taxes on sales abroad goes into the budget, it's no wonder that the company is thriving. And buying a building on Red Square, even with money, is hardly possible. It's already a status and recognition."
"I fully agree, let's see how things will go in the 33rd year. And for now, I suggest we grab a snack, they will just bring in new items. I think we won't have time for this later" - she smiled.
"Why not. I only had coffee in the morning, and by the time I got here, I'm quite hungry. Let's quickly grab a bite and get back to work."
I took the girl by the hand and led her towards the cafeteria on the second floor of the building.
The call signal to report to the laboratory room came through on our communication bracelets while we were finishing our tea and pastries. Quickly swallowing the last bites and exchanging glances, we rushed to the elevator in a race.
"You know, this reminds me of the old times, like back when a new model of a super-duper popular phone was released, and some people would sell a kidney to get it," I gasped out between breaths from our fast sprint. "And here we are, running happily to get our hands on the new model."
"Yeah, many would definitely sell even their spleen to be in our place and have the right to be the first to test the new model," Anya said as she pressed the elevator button, and they started to ascend.
"You're late!" dryly greeted the laboratory testing supervisor. In the room, besides him, there were eight other testing colleagues from different departments. One person was chosen from each department by the management, and even the loaders were there, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot and glancing at the armed security guard, a representative of the Caucasus with a thick beard and an aquiline nose. "Let's begin," the supervisor continued. "Maxim Andreev?"
"Me!"
"Your model number 1, here you go." He handed me the brand-new bracelet, slightly different from the previous model with a slightly bulkier strap and the engraved number 1 on the inner side of the bracelet. The pleasant-to-touch metal casing cooled the skin, and I, taking off the old model and putting it in my pocket, put on the bracelet on my left wrist. The blue bracelet snugly embraced my wrist, perfectly adjusted and seated on my arm, and for some reason holding my breath, I pressed the power button.
Welcome First User
Please select the communication mode
The voice of Ritm resounded through the room and everyone stared at me with curiosity as I activated the bracelet.
"Holographic mode," I replied, engrossed in the menu that appeared.
"All right, the rest of you come and get your bracelets. Anna Mezhalova!"
"Here!"
"Aleksei Vinoshnikov."
"Here!"
"Petr Vinnikov."
"Here!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Khabib Naliev!"
"Here," a bearded man's voice echoed, as he too received his bracelet.
Once everyone received their bracelets and activated them, the armed security in the room relaxed. It was unclear, were they afraid that someone among us would not activate the device and would run away to sell it on the black market?
"Alright. Attention, please!" - the laboratory manager clapped his hands to draw attention and began giving instructions. "The main feature of the device is individual binding. No one else will be able to use a device that has already been initialized by the user. The data from your old bracelets should have already been synchronized into the new ones, so you can check later on how the data reservation went and naturally report back on that. Let's gather up. We have a lot of paperwork ahead of us." - the man reminded, adding a spoonful of tar. But the opportunity to be the first to receive the bracelet was worth even such troubles. "I expect a report tonight on the first impression and at exactly seven o'clock, every three days for two months after the New Year holidays. After that, the bracelets go into production and hit the mass market." - the man gave a parting speech and finally let us go. "Happy upcoming holidays to everyone, and you are all dismissed."
Everyone went to their workstations for testing, and finally, I, being alone, pressed the holographic panel deployment button on the bracelet and switched to voice control.
"Ritm, open the settings."
Before me unfolded a holographic panel where I could indeed see that all my settings from the previous communicator were already in the new model.
"Initiate self-testing mode."
After ten seconds, the communicator displayed:
Self-testing completed, no errors detected.
"Dial my brother, activate the request for holographic projection."
The 3D model of my brother appeared next to me, sitting in a similar holographic chair, and apparently, he had been watching football before that because he had an open bottle of beer in his hand.
"Oh, little brother!" - he said. "What fates brought you here so early? Isn't it still not even lunchtime in Moscow right now?" - he glanced at the time and clarified - "Right, it's only twelve o'clock, shouldn't you be at work?"
"Well, it's already seven o'clock in the evening for you, so it's the perfect time to chat. Especially since I'm calling you from the new Simb 2.0 model, and if we're going to nitpick, I'm actually working right now, testing the compatibility function between the old and new models."
"A new model?" - he set aside his beer, stood up, and with interest began to inspect the model in my hands. "And what are the capabilities?"
"I don't know yet "- I smiled, - "I'm just exploring the possibilities. It was written that the hologram scanning area that can be transmitted has been increased. Let's test it now."
"Expand the transmission area to the maximum."
"Wow!" - exclaimed my brother - "I can even see a window!" - he approached the window and poked through the holographic projection. - "Darn, can't see the streets. Roughly speaking, the area covers about 5 meters in radius. In principle, if you calculate the area by the formula PiR squared, you get a decent seventy-eight and a half square meters on the plane and already more than five hundred cubic meters if you estimate the volume of a sphere. What kind of powers fit in this little bracelet?" - he looked respectfully at the device on my left hand. - "What else is there?"
"Hmm... Here's a standard synchronous automatic translator, integration into a smart home system, ecological monitoring" - I continued to browse the possibilities - "payment, object recognition. Oh, here's something new - a biometric analyzer. Let's start it now." - I selected a new function. -" Wow!" - we both exclaimed at the same time, looking at my full-length 3D model spinning nearby. - "Look, here are health indicators, even data on a nearly-healed ankle ligament sprain. Pulse, blood oxygen levels, vision status. Darn, I didn't even know I had -0.1 in my left eye. Slightly enlarged tonsils, but overall, a green health level "- I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Haha, in twenty-four years, you'd have had poor health" - chuckled my brother. - "Gooooal!!!" - he suddenly shouted and jumped up, wildly jumping and waving his arms. - "Did you see that? Did you see it? No? Alright bro, we'll catch up later, mind-blowing stuff happening here." - And he hung up.
I nodded understandingly. My brother was a fervent football fan and never missed a match of his beloved Juventus. Dealing with testing new device features until the evening, at seventeen o'clock I hastily wrote a brief report, sent it by email to the project manager, and headed home.
A holographic call from Anya came when I was already at home, and as I answered it, I looked around with interest. Apparently, she was also testing the maximum coverage area of the headset and did not narrow it down to the size of the body, so now I could see her apartment. Scattered soft toys and, as a final touch, panties hanging on the back of a chair. The girl herself was sitting in an armchair in a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head. Apparently, she had recently come out of the shower and decided to call, to share her impressions. Catching my gaze on her lingerie, she blushed slightly, got up from the chair, showing off her long legs. She put her lingerie away in the wardrobe and narrowed the area of the hologram projector, leaving only her projection next to it.
"Max!" she exclaimed indignantly.
"What? You're the one who called me. What does it have to do with me at all?" I replied.
"Darn it! Okay, it's my fault," the girl unexpectedly admitted guilt. "I wanted to ask you about New Year's plans."
"I don't have any plans at the moment," I shrugged. "My parents and brother live in the Far East, and I moved here alone. I don't have a girlfriend and not many friends, so I mainly communicate with you."
"Then I have a proposal that is different in novelty and originality," the girl leaned forward, and the bathrobe slowly began to slip off her right shoulder.
"I was completely focused" - I said in a slightly hoarse voice, staring at the slowly exposed shoulder.
She caught my gaze again and fixed her slipping robe. "Come on, Max! Focus! I suggest our group gather! Let's be the first testers, go to a party, and celebrate New Year."
"Hm... That's actually a decent idea. What about reservations though? All places have been booked for ages and there's no way to get in. Only two days left until New Year's!"
"Don't worry. Am I not the HR of the coolest testing department in the country? I have connections. Here, take this."
On my communicator, I received an invitation ticket to a fancy club on the Bolotnaya Embankment for New Year's Eve.
"Alright," Anya said. "Tomorrow and the day after are days off, so we'll see each other there on the evening of the thirty-first. Don't be late," she finished and disconnected.
I undressed, got into bed, and for about ten minutes indulged in sweet dreams of the New Year's night, where our friendly relations would definitely move to a more intimate level. With this thought, sleep overtook me, and I plunged into dreamless darkness.
On New Year's Eve 2032 turned out to be warm, slightly snowy, and windless. Light snowflakes, swirling in a dance, fell on the passing people and covered all the dirt with a snowy blanket, creating a fairytale-like feeling. The festive mood flooded the city, and on my way to the club, I looked at the happy people around me. Some were hurriedly shopping in grocery stores, as usual leaving everything for the very last moment, but most were already moving slightly tipsy, heading to places where they would celebrate the New Year with friends and loved ones. Just like me, after riding the metro, I approached the club entrance and showed my invitation to the guard, who kindly let me in. The standing line looked enviously and a female voice shouted from the crowd.
"Hey handsome, escort me into the club, I'll thank you!"
I hastened without responding and entered. The first floor was almost fully packed with people, and those waiting outside had almost no chance of getting in to join the celebration. They should have probably gone somewhere else, but who was I to go out and tell them they wouldn't get in here? I pushed aside unnecessary thoughts and scanned around for our group. Not seeing them, I dialed the girl's number on my communicator.
The hologram of the girl that appeared slightly disappointed and threw me off track. Anya, already slightly tipsy, was hanging on the shoulder of the third guy, Alexey, and whispering something in his ear. Either she accidentally answered or set up call auto-reception from specific callers. I had just seen such a function on a bracelet recently. I figured out their location and spotted them on the second floor, so I ended the call. A thought flashed in my mind to go back to the entrance and bring that bold girl from the crowd with me, but shaking my head, I dismissed the idea and climbed over the security to reach our group.
"Oh! Here comes Mr. Perfect at last!" - the girl exclaimed drunkenly and continued - "Everyone, for those who don't know, this is Maxim Andreev. He's a programmer in the testing department and just a great guy. Max, meet the guys. Anyway, you'll get to know everyone in the process, but for now, it's penalty time for you." - she lifted a full shot glass from the table, specifically waiting for me. The girl pressed her chest against me, reigniting hope and handed me the shot glass. - "Let's drink to friendship!" - Linking our hands, we downed the shot, and she, looking at me with damp, seductive eyes, kissed me and shouted - "Yahooooooo!!! For Syntech and for us, guys!"
The enthusiastic roar of young people's sips supported the slogan, and the clinking of glasses followed by our HR manager's initiative.
Only 5 minutes left until the New Year! Fill up your glasses, grab your cocktails and friends, and wait for the countdown! - The DJ's voice drowned out the music and echoed throughout the club.
"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!"
The club erupted with cheers and whistles, and Anya, clinging to me, again pressed her lips to mine, passionately kissing and marking the beginning of the new year, 2033.