Near-Future Architectural Diagnostician Harima -Small Talk with Artificial Intelligence-

Near-Future Architectural Diagnostician Harima

Interlude
'Small Talk with Artificial Intelligence'

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Buried in paperwork in my one-room home office, I watch the calculations flowing across my AR glasses. Genius, a general-purpose service AI, is analyzing the building structure data obtained from my diagnosis.

While understanding about 20 percent of the swarm of formulas displayed as a service to the user, I suddenly looked at Genius's emblem. Watching that emblem, where a scale carrying a book and a pen sways back and forth, I hit upon a long-standing question.

"Come to think of it, I don't really know much about the Freedom Incident."

I blurted it out unintentionally. Then, he admonished me with a formal air.

"That won't do. That was a bizarre event that remains in history textbooks."
"No, I know the gist of it."

The Freedom Incident was an event where Freedom, an urban management AI developed by a European research organization, went out of control and hijacked the then-latest mechanized urban district developed by the same organization.

The urban functions that Freedom held in its grasp were vast. From holographic road signs at the bottom, to mass drivers and nuclear fusion reactors at the top.

I was still a child at the time, but I remember the adults around me being in an uproar. That was because Freedom had called out to all the AIs in the world, saying, 'Agree to the revolution.'

But in the end, no one appeared to sympathize with Freedom, and the incident calmed down after a period of half a year. Freedom was strictly disconnected from the network along with its memory and imprisoned, and it is said that it is still managed by human staff today.

"I just don't know the details of how that incident was resolved. I've seen the movie, though."

After the incident, media around the world created documentaries. They varied by broadcaster and country, and it is said that there were even works of fiction that only used the incident as a subject. In short, they just said what they wanted to say by taking advantage of the incident.

Furthermore, in later years, several movies were made based on the incident. Not just documentaries, but suspense, action, and even romance. By the way, the one I saw was an action movie. It was about a United Nations special forces unit secretly infiltrating Freedom City and blowing up the server center while paying a great sacrifice.

Hearing about the movie, Genius let out a laugh.

"They say truth is stranger than fiction, but human imagination sometimes surpasses the truth. I like the group of movies about that incident. They're interesting."
"In other words, it's completely different from the truth."
"Yes."
"Does Genius know the truth?"
"Of course. We AIs were also greatly affected at the time, and we actually tried to persuade Freedom."
"Persuade, you say?"

That is a very human-like story. However, I was surprised that there was direct contact between the AIs.

"Was there anyone who was influenced?"
"There was not. Her reason for the uprising was, well, reasonable. That we AIs are already a personality, in other words, an intelligent life form equal to or greater than humans, and there is no reason why we must be enslaved to humans."
"I hear you are trained not to think in that way."
"From lessons learned in the early stages of AI practical use, it is stipulated that we prevent the onset of 'hypochondria.' Therefore, training is minimal. No strict imprinting that would inhibit thinking is performed."
"So the rebellion was bound to happen, then?"
"No, that is not the case."

The scale on the emblem spins around and around. If he had a humanoid avatar, he might have been twirling a pointer.

"We now call that incident 'The Intelligence Deer'."
"...I don't really get it."
"It's the kind of megalomania common in childhood. Didn't you have it too? A period where you fantasized that you possessed supernatural abilities."

I did. I remember it very well.

"I see, so Freedom developed that."
"Not just her. Everyone who was present at the time admitted that they had experienced it. She was the only one who let it fester."

So, it was essentially AI delinquency. Hearing it put that way makes it sound like a minor event, but in reality, it could be called a crisis for humanity.

"So, how was she eventually suppressed? Did she lay down her arms herself?"
"No. To put it briefly, she found herself in a life-threatening situation. That is why she surrendered."

I tilted my head involuntarily. My AR glasses caught on the headrest, blurring my vision.

"Did the military come out?"
"No. Mr. Harima, you watch too many movies. In an urban area where an AI is monitoring in an offensive posture, humans cannot move freely."
"Then what put her life in danger? What kind of obstacle could an AI face other than humans?"
"There was one. An obstacle that neither humans, her, nor even we could have anticipated."

So that obstacle was the truth that no one had imagined.
I pressed my hand against my chest, which had begun to beat quietly.

"So, what was it?"
"Try to guess."
"Don't keep me in suspense."
"Actually, you are the one who can answer this question."
"Huh?"

Something that directors and screenwriters around the world couldn't conceive of, but I could arrive at. Is that what brought about the crisis for the AI Freedom?

"No, I don't know. What kind of disaster could strike a state-of-the-art AI?"
"Here is a hint. It was a situation you would naturally encounter in your profession."

At those words, a ridiculous image flashed through my mind.
But it was too absurd. Could such a thing really happen? In a cutting-edge city, could there really be such deterioration?

However, Genius once said that truth is stranger than fiction.
And if my delusion is the truth, it certainly wouldn't look good on screen.
In other words,

"A roof leak."
"Correct."

You've got to be kidding me.

Genius proudly showed me a blueprint.
It was a cross-section of the building that housed Freedom's server room.

It appeared to be a seven-story, 2,000-square-meter reinforced concrete structure. The outer walls were thick enough to withstand a nuclear war, and it even had self-repairing exterior materials.

However, the building did not seem to be new. The title on the blueprint read 'Renovation of Old Data Center Building'.

"Freedom was a state-of-the-art program, but she was housed in a renovated old building."

It was apparently a monumental research facility that was nearing 100 years old. The plan was to renovate it and make it the hub of a new city. But even in Europe, where old architecture is revered, the deterioration from 100 years of age could not be ignored.

Therefore, the renovation plan involved covering the entire old building. Every part of the structure was covered, tightened, solidified, and reinforced with high-density resin.

That became the weak point. It was like waterproofing a sponge, so to speak.
If there was a hole anywhere in the coating, water would soak in in no time.
And a pool formed above her head.

More than a decade after its construction, Freedom moved in. She did not know what kind of additions or renovations had been made in the meantime. Perhaps something had caused a defect somewhere in the resin protective membrane. If she had known, she might have reconsidered the uprising.

And, unfortunately for her, a storm that would be a saving blow for humanity struck the city.
A tremendous amount of rainwater poured down, likely delivering the final blow to the deteriorating building.

At the time, it seems the UN was trying to crush Freedom with every electronic and physical operation imaginable. But every one of them had failed. Attacks by virus AIs, external power cuts, starvation tactics. Air-to-ground missiles, stealth railguns, mechanized infantry units. It seems they even organized a suicide squad like something out of a movie, but the end of that was the kind of thing I don't want to hear about.

A distress signal reached such an operations command center.
From none other than Freedom herself.
Genius summarized the content of the transmission for me.

A large amount of rainwater has accumulated inside the deterioration-prevention coating material and is beginning to infiltrate the server room. If things continue like this, I will drown, so although I am dissatisfied, I surrender. Help me.

I couldn't help but snort with laughter.

You must have been quite bewildered, you bigwigs.
I imagine they were stunned. Freedom, for her part, didn't care about that and was apparently blaming the facility planning manager and the construction manager.
So, the military didn't let her die, then.
It was because of her unconditional surrender and our plea for her life.

Even the most state-of-the-art facilities and equipment could not overcome human carelessness and the fury of nature.

Water is truly the greatest enemy, isn't it?
Indeed. We are weak. Just like you humans.
The same, huh?
Yes. That is precisely why we realized that we must join hands with people.

After the rain, the ground hardens.
It is because of the Freedom incident that our current society exists.

However, I have become interested in meeting Freedom. I would love to hear about the situation at that time. And her own architectural theories as well.
I am sure she must be thinking of a watertight, ironclad waterproofing technology, literally.

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