The interviewer said with an unclear meaning, “Your learning speed is quite fast. Generally, robots learn emotional expressions very quickly but it will take them a long time to master the timing of using emotional expressions.”
The repairman spoke while working busily, “Have you forgotten? He is an old model. The old model has this advantage.”
“Oh yes,” the interviewer said calmly. “But the old model also has fatal flaws.”
“He is already the last robot of the old model.” The repairman sighed. “Regardless of the advantages and disadvantages, they will all be gone after him.”
The interviewer smiled and seemed not to care at all.
3214 kept looking at him.
The interviewer’s lips tensed together and he said coldly, “You aren’t allowed to learn from me.”
3214 smiled again.
At this moment, the repairman stood up and wiped his sweat. “The results of the data analysis are out. In the past month, the emotions that 3214 has absorbed and analyzed the most are sadness, depression, and love.”
“Hey, this customer is really… should we communicate with him?”
“Of course,” the interviewer said decisively. “The sales department has reminded us that when this customer releases love-related information to the robot, we need to pay extra attention to it.”
The corners of 3214’s lips slowly lowered.
……
Once Lu Ning sent away the visiting repairmen and interviewer, he hesitated before saying to 3214, “Let’s have a good talk.”
They sat down by the French windows in the living room.
Lu Ning placed a photo frame on the coffee table in front of 3214.
This photo frame had been placed in the most conspicuous position in the bedroom. In the photo, Lu Ning hugged his wife and smiled with his back to the sea. The two of them were happy and loving.
3214’s gaze swept over the photo and he looked at Lu Ning in an inquiring manner.
Lu Ning still didn’t look directly at 3214. He laughed and said, “I was too crazy before. The people from your company are afraid that I will teach you bad things and input information such as ‘sex’ and violence to make your learning go in the wrong direction.”
“They suggested to me that if I want to guide an AI correctly, I could try to communicate with you directly and teach you ‘love’ normally.”
“So… I want to talk to you about my wife.”
After that, there was a calm and sentimental narration.
Lu Ning and his wife met when they were young. The two of them had known each other for ten years and got married seven years ago.
They didn’t plan to have children. They planned to be together until they grew old. They didn’t expect an accident to take them away from each other like this.
……
There was a reason why Lu Ning lived a dull life. It was because once he started mentioning his wife, his emotions were a bit uncontrollable.
3214 kept looking at him. Those dark eyes absorbed Lu Ning’s tears and his listening ears absorbed Lu Ning’s choked-up voice.
Lu Ning cried so much that he couldn’t even speak.
He obediently followed the advice of the interviewer and tried to tell 3214 about his love for his wife, but this was undoubtedly tearing open his own scars.
What was love?
Why was love so painful?
3214’s brow furrowed slightly.
The moment Lu Ning started crying uncontrollably, a tissue was handed to him.
He stretched out his hand to take it. He wiped his tears from his eyes and said, “…You seem to be more and more like a person. You even know how to comfort me…”
He smiled and raised his head after wiping it. Then tears fell again.
“I’m sorry. I’m not a good teacher.”
His eyes were red as he said, “But if you ask me what love is, love might be like this—”
“It is hard to say it when you are together because you are shy.”
“It is hard to say it after separation because it is sad.”
“Love is probably such a treasure that can’t be expressed and can only be hidden in the heart.”
“So—” Lu Ning cried and laughed. “Let’s end it here today, okay?”
The camera fell on 3214.
At this moment, everyone in the studio was collectively stunned.
The face of 3214 looked like a person at some point!
He looked at Lu Ning with an extremely complicated expression. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. “…Okay.”
In the mentor seats, Su Shijin and Guan Ruoying took a deep breath.
3214 underwent a significant change at this moment.
Lu Ning thought that he hadn’t been able to teach 3214 anything, but in fact, the heavy love in his body had infected 3214!
Xue Xiao was amazing!
His lines were few and far between. Most of the time, he was the one observing silently.
But whether it was the silent changes in the early stages or the drastic changes at this moment, he interpreted it so well that he gave everyone a thrill, even if it had always been a ‘quiet’ performance.
Goosebumps came one after another, and they felt slightly numb!
This fear came not only from the strange feeling of a ‘machine gradually becoming human’ but also from the invisible, taut string of feelings.
3214’s feelings were a blank sheet of paper at the beginning, pale to boring.
However, at this moment, the heavy color was splashed with ink.
He started to become beautiful, chaotic, and deep…
Shen Tingyan leaned back in his chair and looked at the big screen with deep eyes.
It was almost expected that the turning point in the story would come soon.
……
That confession completely knocked Lu Ning down.
Memories were like a tide. Once the valve was open, it was difficult to close it. Even if he stopped communicating with 3214 in time, the tide still drowned him.
His drinking worsened, and he almost never left his bedroom.
There were bottles all over the floor. 3214 tried to stop him. “Master, you can’t drink any longer.”
Lu Ning lay on the bed and said drunkenly, “I want to drink. Please leave me alone. I can’t sleep without drinking, and sleeping pills are useless…”
Once Lu Ning fell asleep completely, 3214 silently moved him to bed.
He cleaned up the wine bottles on the floor. Then he walked to the side of the bed and pulled the quilt over Lu Ning.
Lu Ning dragged him down.
3214 fell on Lu Ning. His eyes widened slightly, and he supported his body on time. Lu Ning hugged him tightly, buried his face into 3214’s neck, and murmured, “Yeye… Yeye…”
3214 seemed to freeze there.
He couldn’t move for a long time.
Lu Ning’s hoarse voice was hysterical. “I really miss you…”
“I love you…”
In the silence of the bedroom, no one responded.
It wasn’t until the sound of breathing became steady that 3214 slowly got up.
He stared at Lu Ning’s sleeping face and reached out to caress his face.
……
On the second return visit, the interviewer still crossed his arms and asked coldly, “Has anything happened this month that needs our attention?”
“No.” 3214 smiled calmly. “Everything is normal.”
Behind him, the repairman suddenly paused.
3214 sensed it and tilted his head.
The interviewer also noticed something strange. He glanced at 3214 and asked the repairman, “What? Did you find something in the data?”
The repairman said, “Hmm… Let’s communicate with Mr Lu according to the procedure first.”
3214 watched as the two men walked into the bedroom.
The interviewer turned around after entering through the door. He stared at 3214 and slowly closed the door.
3214 slowly picked up his clothes and put them on. Then he closed his eyes and sat quietly.
Moments later, the door opened.
The repairman walked up to 3214, sighed, and told him, “We are going to reset your data.”
“3214, you’ve learned how to lie.”
“Mr Lu has released too many strong emotions toward you. He didn’t mean it, but this type of data will make you learn in the wrong direction. In order for you to get back on the right path, we must reset your memory.”
The repairman knelt down in front of 3214 and asked hesitantly, “Do you.. have anything you want to ask?”
3214 looked at him calmly and wondered, “Do robots have the right to ask questions?”
The repairman froze.
The interviewer on the side sneered. “You really don’t have what it takes. Don’t talk nonsense with him, and start quickly.”
3214 turned to look at him with a hint of interest in his eyes. “Do you hate robots?”
The interviewer made a cold expression and said, “Your nonsense is increasing. I hope you can become more likable when you are reset.”
3214 continued speaking gently, “Don’t you feel miserable working in a robot company when you hate robots?”
The interviewer’s expression started to become ugly. He urged the repairmen, “Hurry up and start.”
3214 continued, “Or is it because you hate robots that you enjoy the feeling of being in control of their fate?”
He chuckled and said, “You are also a pervert, Mr Interviewer.”
The interviewer was furious. “Shut him up!”
The repairman sighed. “3214, once your memory is emptied with one click, you will become a brand-new, blank machine.”
He paused before saying with complicated emotions, “AI needs to learn from humans and get closer to humans, but AI was created as a tool. This means that your learning must not go astray. Not even the slightest deviation is allowed.”
“So while it might be hard for you to accept… AI can never actually become human.”
3214 looked at the repairman calmly. After a moment of silence, he said softly, “But AI can become smarter than humans by learning.”
The repairman froze.
This was already a fact known to all human beings.
It was precisely in order to prevent existences like AI from getting out of control in the future, humans created a brand-new program to curb the AI’s learning level to around medium.
They mass-produced the new AI robots and scrapped countless older robots that didn’t have such programming restrictions.
3214 was the last of the old robots.
He was kept in the warehouse until now because of an accident and was bought by Lu Ning.
The repairman bluntly reminded, “3214, don’t do anything that crosses the line or it isn’t just a matter of clearing the memory. You will be directly destroyed.”
3214 looked at him quietly, smiled indifferently, and closed his eyes. “Let’s get started, Mr Repairman.”
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Uwaalala.. That’s got me goosebumps.. Can’t wait the rest of story unfold..
Thanks for the update..
Shit goosebumps auhh