By Audrey Bruneau, April 2017.
“Me and you and you and me. No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be. The only one for me is you, and you for me / So happy t (…)”.
Maxim brutally turned off his phone’s alarm. “I have to change this tone”, he grumbled. He used to love this song that made him happy, but now things had changed and he could not stand it anymore. That was Sandra’s favourite song and this fact played a key role in this sudden rejection. Maxim stood up laboriously and went to the living room. Socks on the floor, mayonnaise on the couch and many big and irregular stains of wine on the carpet: this place had definitively become nauseating. After Sandra’s departure, he had just let himself go and a point of no return had been reached. He had lost his energy and felt depressed. He enjoyed life when she was here. Now everything seemed to be useless, everything was a mess and a huge nonsense. Above all, his life was totally and desperately empty. A pet would have kept him company, but he actually hated pets.
Maxim slowly drank his coffee cup while taking a look at his bank account on the computer. He had received his salary with a ten percent increase, like his boss had promised. But this pay increase was really pointless if he could not use it to do something nice with the girl who still haunted his thoughts. “I live a dog’s life”, he said out loud. He checked his inbox: 5 messages had arrived during the night. 5 advertisements. “Bloody hell, I definitely have no friends”, he thought, nervously deleting the messages. However, the last one caught his attention. It was a special offer for the latest generation of robots from R-Company. Maxim read: “The robot Liloo1302 can clean, cook, watch the kids and feed the pets. She can also learn things about you and your relatives and will quickly become a real family member”. At the beginning of this year – 2072 – technology had become incredible. He had heard about these brand new robots that look like humans, behave like humans and do house chores, but he had never felt the need to buy one. However he was a spendthrift, he was desperate and he had just gottten a pay increase. “Come on Maxim, stop acting like a technophobe”, he said to himself.
The box was so big that Maxim had difficulty putting it in the car trunk. He came back home, made room for the box in the middle of the socks and put it on the floor. Without a moment’s hesitation, he opened it and was surprised by the wonderful ‘girl’ lying inside. Like Snow White in her glass coffin, Liloo1302 was sleeping peacefully with long and dark hair falling on her shoulders. Maxim could not wait to read the instructions for use, just as a child with his new toy on Christmas day. For the first time in a long while, he felt really excited and enthusiastic about something. He had missed this feeling so badly. He pressed the start button for 10 seconds, as written on the paper. Suddenly the robot came alive. She opened big black eyes with endless eyelashes and started talking: “Hi. I am nice to meet you. I need you to give me a name. Just say it clearly out loud”. “Sandra”. Maxim immediately regretted this choice of words that he had made spontaneously, out of fascination for the robot. But it was too late. “Hi, I am Sandra. Please go on our official website and return the questionnaire linked with my reference number so that I can know you better”, she said. And she closed her eyes. Her voice was sweet. As far as he remembered, robot’s voices were often so artificial and disturbing. This voice was so surprisingly natural; he could not believe it.
Maxim took his computer and went on the website. Name, nickname, date of birth, favourite colour, sport, flavour… Questions were numerous and very precise, and Maxim had to rack his brain to answer them. He pressed ‘Enter’ and waited. Sandra’s plastic eyes opened and she glanced at him. A bright smile appeared on her face. “Hi Maxim. I can do what you want for you, just ask”, she said. “Can you clean everything up?”, he answered, a mischievous smile on his lips. “Sure”. She stood up and started gathering the socks. Out of curiosity, he looked at her for a while and then decided to go shopping. When he came back home two hours later, Sandra was in the kitchen and an appetizing smell of pizza was floating through the air. Everything was clean and tidy. He entered the kitchen and she turned to him: “I know that pizza is your favourite meal”. Maxim was speechless. He finally whispered: “You’ve exceeded all my expectations, Sandra”. He went to the table, she brought him the pizza and came back to the kitchen to wash some plates. He started eating and was surprised once again: the pizza was delicious. When did robots learn to cook pizza that well? As he was enjoying his meal, he suddenly felt guilty to see her cleaning while he was having a good time. He called her. She came and asked: “Is there a problem?”. “Just take a seat and stay with me”, he said. “Does it taste good? I put more mushrooms than mentioned in the recipe because I know that you really like mushrooms”, she told Maxim, still smiling. “It is perfect, thank you Sandra”. It was weird because he was not used to signs of affection anymore. He gazed into her big, beautiful black eyes. She looked so alive. Maybe she was. Maybe technology had finally managed to create a soul.
All of a sudden, somebody knocked to the door. It should be Bobby, Maxim’s neighbour that was coming to see the match tonight. Maxim had totally forgotten it. Immediately, Sandra went to the door and opened it. “Bloody hell Maxim, what is that?” he cried. “That is my new robot, she takes care of my home. It had become a mess and I felt powerless”, Maxim answered. They seated themselves on the couch and turned up the television. Bobby had brought three packs of beer and they started to drink. They drank until it all went away, and the more they drank, the more Bobby was thirsty. “Hey you!”. Sandra stared at Bobby, who was waving and calling her. She came near him. “Go get us more beers baby”, Bobby said, and he grabbed her butt. “What are you doing, you stupid?” asked Maxim, getting mad. “Relax Maxim, this is a fucking robot, she doesn’t understand
anything, she can’t feel anything! She’s nothing but a piece of metal!”.
Bobby may be right, but the way he behaved deeply bothered Maxim. “Go away, Bobby”, he said. “What’s happening bro?”. “Just go away, I feel bad, I want to be alone tonight”. Bobby went away and slammed the door, leaving Maxim lost in thought. “Are you okay? Do you need something?” It was Sandra standing there, right in front of him. The alcohol running in his veins made it hard to think clearly, but at this moment it seemed to Maxim that she understood the situation and saw that he felt bad. What if she finally had a mind? Why should only humans have a mind? This reminded him of a Terry Bisson’s short story his grandmother had heard when she was young in the 1990’s – almost one century ago. It was called They’re made of meat and was a dialogue where two intelligent beings discover our Solar system. They are surprised to discover a possible carbon-based life that they call “thinking meat”, but it seems so absurd to them that they forget about it. The “thinking meat” was us, human. What about a “thinking metal” after all? This thought made him feel disconcerted and he preferred to go to sleep.
In the morning, Maxim was woken up by a sweet smell. Pancakes with honey. This reminded Maxim of his previous girlfriend Sandra. The real Sandra. For a brief moment, he got the impression that nothing had happened and that he would find her in the kitchen wearing her favourite purple dress with yellow birds on it. He stood up and went into the kitchen. He was shocked. She was here. At least, the dress was here. “Hi. I found this in the wardrobe. I made you pancakes”. Instead of Sandra’s – the real one – low voice, it was the robot’s higher voice. Because of their long black hair, the two Sandra looked the same from behind, and he was quite disappointed to see the big black eyes instead of his ex-girlfriend blue ones. “Thank you for the pancakes, I really love honey”, he said. After the breakfast, he decided to go for a walk in the city with his robot. He knew that this idea seemed crazy, because nobody ever went strolling with their robot. But he really wanted to try. He gave Sandra a coat and they took the bus to go downtown. He spent an amazing day with her. She looked kind of lost sometimes but always smiled at Maxim and listened to him. At the end of the day, he entered a flower shop and bought Sandra a bouquet of flowers. “This is for you. Hope you’ll enjoy it”, he said. “Red is my favourite colour. This is the colour of love”, the robot answered, “Thank you, Maxim”. Suddenly filled with emotion, Maxim approached Sandra and let his lips meet hers. Sandra’s body did not make a move, but as a pure artificial intelligence, her lips moved clumsily. This made Maxim think once again that she perfectly understood the situation and, in the present case, that she appreciated what was happening. He stared at her for a while and said: “I like you, Sandra”. A shudder went through Maxim when she answered: “I like you too Maxim”.
The next days, Maxim kept on spending time with Sandra, always trying to teach her new things about life and society. The more she learnt, the more human she looked. Little by little, borders between her and a real human blurred in Maxim’s mind. They blurred so much that he decided to invite his brother and introduce him to Sandra – his “new girlfriend with the same name as the previous one, that’s a coincidence isn’t it?”. That is how Maxim’s brother Sam found himself seated next to the beautiful Sandra on a Saturday night in February.
“So how did you meet? What did you like most when you first met my brother? I want to know everything!” Sam asked Sandra.
Even though she was an artificial intelligence with a high degree of skills in various fields, this question was overly complicated for her. She had not been made with the aim of building a romantic relationship with a human. Instead of answering, she just smiled to Sam and did not say a word.
Maxim came to her rescue: “We met in a store. I think she really liked my eyes. That’s what I particularly liked about her: these big black eyes”.
The situation seemed to be under control but Sandra ruined everything: “Low battery”, she said, and she grabbed an electric wire from behind her back to plug herself in.
“What the… Maxim?! Is this what I think it is? Is this a robot, man?” said Sam, still shocked.
Maxim immediately answered to calm down his brother: “Wait, listen to me. She’s not like other stupid robots that clean rooms and cook. She understands me, she has become my best friend. She has a soul, Sam!”
As Sam was still speechless, Maxim went on: “She’s very intelligent. I taught her many things. Look.”
Maxim began to speak to Sandra in Spanish. She answered perfectly. Sam was still not convinced. He said: “Maxim, your dear Sandra produces the appearance of understanding Spanish by following a program written in a computing language, but does not understand Spanish. She does not understand anything of human life. She is a machine, she has no feelings, nor mind!”
Sam stood up and went to Sandra, still plugged. “Okay Sandra, what is love?”
The robot glanced at him and answered very quickly: “According to Oxford Dictionaries, ‘love’ can be defined as strong feeling of affection. For instance, parents love their children.”
“Stupid machine”, said Sam as he got angry, “Here is your proof Maxim, she feels nothing. Do you want another proof?”. Maxim did not even have time to react before Sam pressed the reset button behind Sandra’s neck.
“Hi. I am nice to meet you. I need you to give me a name. Just say it clearly out loud”. As the robot delivered her introduction speech, Maxim’s heart broke. He panicked and ran to her. “Sandra, Sandra! You could not have forgotten me! Remember all the time we spent together, pizzas, mushrooms, red flowers, pancakes, Spanish… Te quiero Sandra”.
The robot’s eyes started to glow red: “Error. Error. Error. Sorry, this name is too long. Please, choose another one”.
Maxim started to cry. “I’m sorry, Maxim”, Sam said.
“It’s okay, let me alone”.
Maxim spent a whole month locked up at home with Liloo1302. He desperately tried to make her recall all the things they had shared previously. In vain. One day at the end of March, he decided he could not stand it anymore. He put the robot furiously in her box and brought it to the landfill. He wanted her to disappear from his life. On the way back, as he was lost in thought, he crashed his car into another car. It was not too serious but an official report was necessary. He went out of his car and approached the other one: “I’m so sorry, I’ll pay for everything. Are you okay?”.
He leaned close to the car window and felt reassured to see that the woman inside was okay. She turned to him and smiled, her endless eyelashes blinking, hiding and revealing by turn incredible big black eyes.
Author’s note:
I chose to develop the theme of Artificial Intelligence and its different issues because it is a very contemporary subject that my generation should feel really concerned by. The more important were philosophical issues with the topics of strong AI, the process of understanding, the idea of the mind – can we artificially create a mind? But I also tried to make readers fully aware of the possible consequences of AI on our society: our link with such robots, mental troubles it could engender, ethical questions – how to treat somebody that has human features but is actually not human?
I wrote it as a fiction because I love to write and I think that it is a good way to call such an issue (AI) to mind for most people. Indeed, the reader can imagine himself in the world I created and think about the way he would react if he in the main character’s situation. I wanted to push people to make philosophy without even realizing it!