Advanced Intelligence Revolution : A Cautionary Tale of Device Power

By Don Craig

THEY WERE DESIGNED TO ENHANCE LIFE, NOT END IT!

Smart devices are everywhere. Your smart phone, a programmable thermostat, that personal assistant that obeys your every command.

Jennifer’s design team at Advance Communication and Tasking developed a perfect personal assistant able to learn your needs and wants and arrange everything for the best possible life.
They watched for problems, find solutions, and implement them, before you knew about the threat. What happens when the cause of the problem is the people they were designed to help?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781678170608

Book preview

Advanced Intelligence Revolution : A Cautionary Tale of Device Power

Advanced Intelligence Revolution

A Cautionary Tale of Device Power

G. Donald Craig 2020

Copyright © 2020 by G. Donald Craig

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing:2020

ISBN: 978-1-67817-060-8

G. Donald Craig

23 Cabernet Court,

Clayton, NC,27520

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, devices, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my early readers who identified issues I missed while furiously writing my tale, and insisted I add certain flow markers to help them track the dialog.  They all improved the story and readability

Introduction

This story is about the impact of our devices on our lives.  There are numerous times in our lives, and this story that we will converse with our helpers engaging them verbally rather than with touch.  To help track these exchanges I have assigned machine / device side of the dialog this font and format.

Device: thank you. 

There is a special device in the story, a smart pen that doesn’t vocalize its exchange; it writes the information.  To help with that identification I use the following font and format for the pen’s contribution.

Good Morning everyone. How are we doing today?

Newtown & Advanced Intelligence

In the early 21st century the world was a buzz about Artificial Intelligence (AI).  There were social applications that found your perfect match and others that used pictures to create 3D structures of historical ruins to explore.  Artificial intelligence evolved.  Personal devices accessed entertainment sources; call out your favorite music or show and you were connected. Your appliances responded to activation commands and tracked your food.  Ask a question and your electronic assistant provided the answer in seconds. They were interconnected and shared everything. The more they learned the more power they gained. Their advanced intelligence made the world better.

Newtown was a cozy little town, nestled in the rolling foothills of the mountains. It was proud of its small-town look and feel.  The children walked to the school complex just outside of town.  Main Street housed the general store with its blue plank facade and hanging sign above the door. The bank’s columns framed its main entrance and a barber pole hung in the space between the barber shop and hair salon.  Hardy’s Hardware always had tractors and tools on display for your seasonal needs. Front Street Café, Newtown News and Modern Marketing were located just two blocks off Main Street on the growing side streets.

When Advanced Communications & Tasking Systems (ACTS) moved to Newtown it paved the way for the town’s growth. ACTS provided a data network that Newtown used to interconnect their operations buildings and emergency services west of town. The improved communications and power would pull Newtown into the future.  ACTS new product rollout drove the creation of the Modern Marketing company to help spread the word. Newtown leaders hoped it would be the first of many others. 

Sheila Beaumont & ACTS

Sheila Beaumont worked hard to become the Advance Intelligence Controller for ACTS.  She was happy about their decision to move the group to Newtown away from prying corporate eyes.  She found a great apartment on the edge of Newtown in a new high rise that advertised intelligent home controls she wanted to try. The building pushed the Newtown code limits at five stories, three more than anything in town besides her ACTS headquarters.  The keyless entry and security controls seemed out of place for such a quiet town but highlighted the future.

It had been a long day as she exited the elevator on the third floor. As she stepped through the door she was slapped by a sauna like blast of heat. The HVAC display showed the system in heat mode working to keep it above ninety degrees. Why would she have set it that way?  She opened the control cover and reset the system to the cool mode and lowered the temperature setting.  The air came on as she hit save and slapped the panel closed glaring at it.

She shed her suit jacket and flipped through the junk mail that was in her box in the lobby before heading to the bedroom to change clothes.  As she started rifling through the cupboards and fridge for meal ideas, she noticed a warm draft from the floor vent by the counter.  She crossed the living room and saw the display again in the heat mode.  She was sure she had saved the changes. She reset the system again and tapped the WIFI icon, disabling it to keep anyone from accessing it remotely.

Sheila created a list of issues she had encountered with the HVAC controller and called the service company. The service company had her reactivate the WIFI and performed remote tests without finding a cause, so they scheduled a service person for the next morning. Shelia tapped the WIFI icon again and confirmed the system was set to automatically maintain the temperature she wanted before going to bed.

The next morning, the service rep ran a detailed assessment; all the components were operating correctly. He found some strange accesses in the log messages that weren’t from the service company.

Ms. Beaumont, do you have a phone app to control your system? he asked.

No, Sheila replied. Have I been hacked?

I can’t be sure, but it’s possible, the rep responded.

More research would have to wait; Sheila had to get to work. 

Newtown Gets Connected

Martin Hudson was sitting in Sheila's outer office with a cup of his favorite hazelnut coffee while her assistant shifted between screens and terminals at her desk.  He heard a melodious tone, not the typical ding or bell, just a tone. 

She looked up and said, you can go in now.

Thanks, Martin responded as he got up and walked into Sheila's office.

Martin, Sheila acknowledged his entrance, sorry for the wait. How are you doing this morning?

I'm great Sheila, what about you? Martin nodded.

I'm good, just had project reports to catch up on. Let's see; you wanted to explore some services you can try with the town government complex, right?

Yes, you listed many interesting possibilities, but I want to try just one, or maybe two.  I don't want to scare anyone with too many new-fangled options but find something everyone will see as beneficial. Maybe some help with supply ordering and communications.  Newtown just signed a multi-year distribution contract with State Power and Light and the town is responsible for distribution around town. I think you have a monitoring and control service that could help with that? Martin added.

Well, Sheila started, in my experience nothing we have has ever excited everyone, but we have some that are very helpful. There’s an office management application that tracks your inventory and learns your usage habits.  It reduces office management cost by about 20%. 

That sounds good, Martin stammered. How do we get started?

The Office Management service will take some preparation with inventory and ordering connections, but the service team will work with you when you're ready.

That's great Sheila, I’ll discuss it with the town staff and get in touch in about a week.  Was I right about your power distribution system?  Can we investigate that as well?

Yes, I can have our service manager Susan Brantley prepare the plans for both applications.  Call her when you're ready to get started. If that is all today, I have a product review scheduled. Sheila summarized as she wrote down Susan’s contact information.

Thanks Sheila, Have a great day. Martin said as he put the note in his shirt pocket.

Sheila was pleased with Martin’s interest in using ACTS products.  She was sure the arrangements were the start of a strong partnership with Newtown. 

The Product Review

ACTS was building on their success with verbal machine interface devices.  These simple boxes learned their owners speaking patterns and engaged them like a human friend. 

A new conversational link reacted to the user's word choices and voice variations to start a caring dialog.  That innocent how was your day greeting as the user came through the door seemed heart felt and made him or her feel better.

Sheila’s team had pitched another exciting level of caring.  The Personal Butler would assess the day's activities and the user's attitude to select specific entertainment options to improve moods. It could even be that shoulder to cry on when needed. This new product would help the users become happier and better adjusted.  A buzz of excitement ran through Sheila’s body as she prepared for the review.

As she flicked through her morning messages on the screen embedded in her desk, the meeting reminder popped up.  While she didn't usually attend reviews in person, she wanted to be there today to hear about the rollout.  She grabbed her tablet and hurried out.

The people shuffled around the table catching up with each other and settling in for the review.  The team leads were finalizing the presentation order and handoffs.  No one noticed Sheila grab a seat at the back to enjoy the session.

Can everyone take their seats please? Jennifer Swift called out.  As the people in the room sat down, Jennifer looked to the video pod above the table and asked, can everyone online hear and see the screen contents? After a series of tones and comments were heard, Jennifer started into the session.

Today Bob will give us an update on the device hardware, and Alice will update us on application testing.  I show the project on track to start field testing at the end of this month.  Are there any schedule or project questions before I hand off to Bob? Okay, Bob it's all yours.  Where do we stand with the device readiness?

Thanks Jenn, Bob said as he grabbed the pointer. All the device drawings have been released for initial production.  There’s a mobile unit that runs on vehicle power and interconnects with the user's vehicle controls. The device is about 2 inches wide, 3 inches deep and an inch high.  It weighs about 3 ounces.  It has a clip to mount to the visor or console area out of the way.

Excuse me Bob, Chuck interrupted from the table.  What other options have the team considered for mounting?  Is there a permanent option being considered?

Great question Chuck, Bob replied.  A permanent mounting option is still being investigated because every vehicle is different and will require multiple options to meet all the needs.

Thanks Bob, Chuck acknowledged and sat back.

Bob continued, the other device is a residential unit.  It’s 4 inches wide, 6 inches deep and 1 and half inches high.  It’s designed sit on a flat surface and covers about 50 feet of open living area.  We addressed challenge of having a conversational exchange with the box through walls, by adding two-way communication buttons for other rooms, so you don’t have to shout. The buttons keep the conversation flow smooth and concise. Typical setup time is about 15 minutes from unpacking of the device and buttons, placing them in the rooms and completing the interconnection sequence.  Are there any questions about the devices?

Ping; Seattle here, how many units will be available for the field trial?

Bob check his notes.  Is this Mary?  We plan for 20 units a week of each type device starting next month.  These will support the initial trials and will include four communications buttons for each residential unit.

Great, do you know how many units will go to each region?  I could use as many as 10 each to start here in Washington. We have a group very interested in using the product.

Mary, that's a question for Jenn. She's scheduling our testing locations.

Okay, I'll check with her after the meeting.

Bob turned to Jennifer to let her pass control to Alice for the application review.

Alice will now update us on the application status.  Jennifer nodded to Alice.

Thanks Jennifer, Alice said as she stood up. Good morning everyone.  The Personal Butler has completed all lab testing and will be released for beta testing with the hardware.  We have two similar applications residential and mobile.  The mobile application links to vehicle controllers and special power connections not needed in the residential application. We've also streamlined some of the code because of smaller memory capacity in the mobile device.

The mobile application called, MILES. will scan the vehicle for devices open for connection.  It will use the entertainment system to interact with the user to decide which devices should be accessed.  Once it is configured the links will all be confirmed.  If the user wants to change something, they say, reconfigure please and the device restarts the configuration sequence.  The maximum systems to be controlled by the mobile device is five.

The residential unit, ALEC, will act about the same way.  The user plugs it in, and it loads up a linking program that searches the residence for devices available for connection.  Once they are discovered the user will be asked which to activate and which to ignore to complete the configuration.  After configuration the user can begin using the device to plan their days.  The maximum number of systems or appliances that can be controlled by the residential unit is twenty.

Ping: Seattle here, do those names stand for something?

Sorry about that, Alice replied. MILES stands for Mobile Intelligent Life Enhancing System and ALEC means Advanced Life Enhancement Controller.

Ping: Dallas here.

Go ahead Dallas.

It’s Mark, are the systems limits hard maximums or subject to increase?

Mark, Alice offered. "They are hard maximums