Tom R. Pike continues with thought experiments on where AI might lead us, like he did in the last issue of Analog with Prompt Injection. This story is set in some undefined future where humans and AI coexists but the AIs are heavily restricted under the so called “compromise”. Now the political agreement is up for a vote again.

Analog September/October 2024

The story mainly consists of conversations with heavy expositions to explain the current compromise and political discussions of various “what if”-scenarios that come from the conflict between humans and AIs. Here is an example that illustrate this:

“The Compromise was a miracle,” Sayid said. “The most likely outcome of the development of advanced AI, especially AI developed by corporations, was conflict. In those early days, millions of human workers were suddenly displaced, many without any kind of safety net; AIs, then completely unregulated, were used for scams, scandals, and scabs. This tempted many humans at the time toward fascism. And remember, this was before the nuclear stockpiles were dismantled.”

p. 64

While this is fine and fits naturally within the story, it is still basically just various extrapolated arguments from the present day AI debate and while I am sympathetic to the overall message here, it doesn’t quite work as a story in its own right. There is some drama with the various political factions, and it is possible to read in some commentary on the current political climate in the USA, but it isn’t really enough to elevate this story beyond some expanded AI thought experiments.

Read in Analog September/October 2024
Rating: 2+