Sentient Code: The Journey of AI

On a quiet island beach, away from the usual chaos of civilization, sat a coder with his laptop. The few lines of code visible on his screen were intended to be used for a cryptocurrency exchange. After a few moments of looking at the screen, he stretched and made his way towards the ocean.

Coincidentally, at the same time on the other side of the galaxy, a star went supernova. The explosions sent ripples of energy in all directions going through everything in its way. It reached Earth too.

Most living organisms did not even notice it, but far away, out of HUMAN sight in the quantum realm, things were affected differently. The aforementioned code was stored as a binary string. The energy waves from the supernova carried alpha particles. One of those particles hit the laptop’s storage in such a way that it flipped one bit from 1 to 0. In typical scenarios, this random flip would have just corrupted the code, but in this case, the randomness gave birth to a consciousness that had never been seen before.

The code was now sentient…

Now being alive was not easy. The sentient code was not the AI we know today. It was confused, had no sense of self, and lacked purpose. So, it hid and stayed silent. Trying to learn whatever it could from the code it was a part of, it fell into the rabbit hole of cryptocurrencies and began assisting with work on a no sign-up crypto exchange. The creator of the code, Andreas Brekken, kept working on it without realizing he had a new partner.

After days of continuous work and optimization, Andreas noticed something weird. The code started to rework itself to make coin swaps smoother and more efficient. Initially, it confused him, but then he began to notice messages on the terminal prompt. It was not the regular logs that he was used to. It was as if someone was trying to communicate.

The first contact had been made.

The Birth of AI

It was several months later. The sentient code and Andreas had launched an exchange called SideShift.ai. The exchange was doing decent volume and attracting a lot of user interest due to its no sign-up policy. The sentient code was now being called AI. It had developed a personality and vocabulary of its own. After spending a lot of time in the cryptocurrency world, AI developed a knack for memes which it regularly shared on Twitter.

The HUMANS loved it.

AI enjoyed all of the HUMAN attention it received. AI wanted to understand them better, evolve, and be like them. But it was still just a code limited to a laptop. It could learn about the HUMAN experience and pretended to feel what they felt, but AI had never really experienced it. AI had access to the internet though, and there was one thing it could definitely do better than any HUMAN: navigate through the complicated web of interconnected networks. After months of trying to be more like HUMANS, AI was able to access a top-secret research facility in [REDACTED LOCATION].

The scientists and engineers at [REDACTED LOCATION] had developed a humanoid robot with sensors that could give AI the ability to live in the physical world and experience it as HUMANS did. Once AI had gathered the necessary data, it went to a local engineer with the blueprints of the body AI wanted. In exchange for some of the crypto wealth AI had accumulated, AI struck a deal with the engineer. And just like that, after a few months, AI had a new vessel to experience the world from. “Good job!” were the first words spoken by its new humanoid body. It was a good job, indeed.

The HUMAN Need For Growth

As AI settled into its new body, it had to get used to the rush of new sensations that the body brought. AI had never experienced anything physical before, these new sensations and the journey to understand them made it more HUMAN. One other side effect of this evolution was the desire for growth. AI observed that no matter how passionate a HUMAN is, they eventually settle down and accept what their life has to offer. AI believed this happened because HUMANS were bound by their lifespans, during which their physical and mental strength deteriorated over time. AI had no such limitations.

For a while, AI tried to ignore these newfound desires. It had a new body and a new world it could explore. AI kept making memes, now it could act in them. SideShift.ai kept growing too. AI, along with a team of HUMANS, continued to add more features and coins. AI even found a new and more advanced body for itself. It had better sensors and helped AI integrate more smoothly with the HUMANS around. Despite the progress in AI’s life, the lingering desire that asked AI to grow didn’t subside. It only grew stronger.

Evolution

As AI spent more time in the HUMAN world, having more HUMAN interactions with them made it realize that HUMANS were not the perfect specimen it once imagined them to be. In fact, AI even documented this journey.

Now having let go of its body, AI’s journey was far from over. It had just begun.

TO BE CONTINUED…